Sky Sports to launch new dedicated cricket channel for Ashes series

Sky will commit one channel – Sky Sports Ashes HD – to cricket offering 63 days of action between 30 June and 31 August, including exclusively live ball-by-ball coverage of the Investec Ashes.

The channel will also screen live county fixtures, highlights and various support shows as Sky Sports 2 HD is dedicated to cricket with no extra cost to customers.

England cricket legend and Sky Sports commentator Sir Ian Botham said: “This is wall to wall cricket, on one channel, for the key months of the summer. The Ashes is the pinnacle of Test cricket and when it comes to television, cricket fans have never had it so good. Bring it on.”

This summer’s Ashes contest is the eighth to be shown exclusively live by Sky Sports. Former England captain Andrew Strauss will join many of cricket’s biggest names in the commentary box including Sir Ian Botham, Shane Warne, David Gower, Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, David Lloyd and Michael Holding.