ESPNcricinfo's unrivalled coverage of international cricket will be enhanced for users in the British Isles over the next four years, following the securing of digital highlights rights for all ICC events in the 2016-19 period.
The agreement, covering the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, will allow ESPN to show in-progress, pre-match and post-match highlights across all ESPN-branded websites and mobile apps.
The deal will get its first airing at the ICC Under-19 World Cup, starting this Wednesday, when South Africa play Bangladesh, the hosts, in the tournament opener in Chittagong.
That will be followed, between March 8 and April 3, by both the men's and women's tournaments at the ICC World Twenty20 in India, during which ESPNcricinfo, and its multi-sport sister site, ESPN.co.uk, will feature near-live clips of fours, sixes, wickets and other key moments via its live ball-by-ball scorecard service.
The in-play content will be complemented by full match highlights, up to five minutes, as well pre and post-event content provided by the ICC, as well as all of ESPNcricinfo's traditional written match coverage.
The agreement announced by ESPN Cricinfo has also revealed the dates for the upcoming ICC tournaments to be jointly hosted in Cardiff with the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy due to be staged between June 1-19th in 2017 and the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup between May 30th and July 15th. Given the restrictions around hosting international cricket tournament venues won't be able to play domestic T20 Blast fixtures during these dates, so change to the schedule is expected to accommodate these global competitions coming to England and Wales.
We are extremely proud of our coverage of international and domestic cricket, and are delighted we can expand that coverage with near-live in-match clips and full post-match highlights from the biggest tournaments in the sport, said Charly Classen, Vice President and General Manager, ESPN - Europe, Middle East and Africa.
We are thrilled to expand on our longstanding relationship with the International Cricket Council in the UK and Republic of Ireland. With these highlights alongside our ball-by-ball coverage, ESPN will be offering cricket fans the perfect way to follow all of the action from the upcoming ICC World T20 and beyond.
ICC highlights on ESPN - 2016-19
• ICC Under-19 World Cup Jan 27-Feb 14, 2016
• ICC World Twenty20 Mar 8-Apr 3, 2016
•ICC Champions Trophy Jun 1-19, 2017
•ICC Women's World Cup Aug 4-27, 2017
•ICC Under-19 World Cup Jan 12-Feb 4, 2018
• ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Mar 1-Apr 4, 2018
•ICC Women's World Twenty20 Nov 2-25, 2018
•ICC Cricket World Cup May 30-Jul 15