Fox Sports adds five stars to line-up

Fox Sports have added another five superstar commentators to their cricket coverage for the upcoming summer, with Mark Waugh, Mel Jones, Mike Hussey, Isa Guha and Michael Vaughan signing on with the pay-television broadcaster.

The talented quintet, who have played more than 1000 international matches between them, will join Australia legend Adam Gilchrist, Allan Border and Brendan Julian at the pay-tv network.

The move will reunite Gilchrist, Waugh and Jones, who were part of the Ten Network’s ground-breaking KFC Big Bash League coverage.

“I’m looking forward to working with Gilly,” Waugh – also an Australian national selector – told News Ltd. “We get on well. He’s a knowledgeable guy and he’s easy to work with.

“Fox have got a great crew together. AB (Allan Border) and BJ (Brendon Julian) are guys I’ve worked with a lot and it’s going to be exciting to see how it all pans out.

“They’ve got a dedicated channel, which is a first in Australia for cricket. There’s going to be a lot of content on there and the coverage of all the different formats is going to be huge. It’s exciting times.”

Hussey’s signing marks his return to television commentary after being dropped by Channel 9 in 2016, while Guha – a former England international who was part of their 2009 World Cup winning team – will bring expertise to both the men’s and women’s cricket coverage after two seasons as part of Triple M’s Test coverage.

Seven West Media and Fox Sports signed a $1.182 billion deal to jointly broadcast international and domestic cricket in Australia for the next six years. 

That ended a four-decade association between cricket and the Nine Network, while Network Ten had broadcast the Big Bash League for the past five years.

Seven will broadcast Australian Test cricket and 43 of 59 BBL games – including the finals series – as well as all Australian women's internationals and 23 WBBL matches from this summer.

Fox Sports will simulcast all that on its subscription service, with its own commentary team that Gilchrist will lead. The pay-tv service will also broadcast Australia's ODI and T20 international matches, an extra 16 BBL matches scattered throughout the regular season, as well as the Sheffield Shield final, select domestic one-day matches and some tour matches.

On Friday, Channel 7 unveiled former national captain Ricky Ponting as the face of free-to-air cricket coverage in Australia as he signed a multi-year deal with the new cricket broadcaster.

The 43-year-old, who is currently plying his coaching trade with Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League in the first of a two-year deal, was snapped up by Seven's new head of cricket, Dave Barham, who worked with Ponting in the same role at Ten.

"Seven has long been the leader of live sport coverage in Australia and their plans for cricket will give the viewer a greater insight into the game," Ponting said. "I couldn't be more excited to be joining the Seven Network and being part of an exciting new era of cricket broadcasting."

The Cricket Network – through cricket.com.au and the CA Live app – will provide broadcast-quality live streaming coverage of every Sheffield Shield match, and the remaining WBBL and JLT One-Day Cup matches not covered by Fox.