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Nine takes the cricket battle to Ten with comprehensive international summer lineup

Free-to-air TV viewers will be deluged with cricket this summer with Nine announcing a comprehensive international season featuring a four-game home test series against India, both a one day international series and Twenty20 home series against South Africa, and a three-way one day international series against England and India.

Headline sponsors include KFC for the Twenty20 series, Carlton Mid for both the South Africa one day internationals series and the three-way ODI tournament, and  Commonwealth Bank for the Indian test series.

In a comment which appeared to be aimed at Ten’s rights to Australia’s Twenty20 domestic Big Bash series, Nine Network head of sport Steve Crawley said in a statement: “Last summer Nine’s coverage of the international season had nearly double the audience of any other sports broadcast in the country. An average of over two million viewers watched every Test, every day.

“With the world’s top four teams competing this coming summer, Australian audiences will be treated to the best players competing in the highest form of the game.”

Meanwhile, in a further squeeze on Ten’s cricket ambitions, the Cricket World Cup takes place in Australia and New Zealand throughout February and March next year. Nine has rights to matches involving Australia while the rest will be on Fox Sports.

The schedule for the Big Bash League, which runs from December, is yet to be announced, although Big Bash league manager Anthony Everard today tweeted that it would be revealed in “a few days”.

This summer, Ten’s Big Bash coverage delivered a brief ratings boost for the network, although this fell away once the official ratings period began.

Nine’s summer cricket schedule:

Nine's November cricket schedule

Nine’s November cricket schedule

Nine's December and January cricket schedule

Nine’s December and January cricket schedule

The next Ashes contest, hosted in England, takes place from July to September next year.

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