In December 2004, it was announced that Channel 4 would lose the broadcasting rightsto live broadcasts of Test cricket after the end of the 2005 Ashes, with live coverage being awarded to Sky Sports exclusively. Initially, the England and WalesECB had announced that they were contemplating sharing the rights between Sky and Channel 4, but ultimately awarded the contract exclusively to Sky Sports. Concurrently, the ECB announced that Channel 5 had gained the broadcast rights to highlights of all test, ODI and T20I cricket. However, unlike the coverage by Channel 4, the contract did not include coverage of domestic cricket. Channel 5 was the only broadcaster to bid for the rights to the highlights despite not having broadcast cricket previously. In 2012, Channel 5 extended its contract until 2017. This was subsequently extended by a further two years after which highlights and additional rights will transfer to the BBC.
Cricket on 5 initially took most of the personnel from Channel 4, keeping award-winning anchor Mark Nicholas along with analysts Simon Hughes and Geoffrey Boycott. The commentating team usually included a fourth commentator from the opposing country, for example Ian Bishop when England took on the West Indies and Matthew Hayden when England took on Australia. Former England captain Michael Vaughan joined the show in 2010. More recently, Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly joined the team when India toured England in 2018, and Mitchell Johnson and Mike Hussey joined the team for the 2019 Ashes series. When Mark Nicholas is unavailable, coverage has been hosted by Simon Hughes, and Alec Stewart deputised when one of the usual team was unavailable for commentary.
Running time
Initially, from 2006 to 2011, the programme was broadcast between 7.15pm to 8pm. It is now broadcast from 7pm to 8pm, which allows for more coverage once advertisement breaks are accounted for. If England are playing a day/night ODI or Test, coverage is shown at 12am-1am.
Channel 5 chose not to keep the Channel 4 theme musicMambo Number 5. The first theme was "Shine" by Shannon Noll and coverage was supported by The Daily Telegraph, from 2009-2011 Wolf Bass sponsored the programme. The theme tune as of May 2011 is "The Time Is Now", performed by Russ Ballard. The theme tune from 2014 onwards is "Channel 5 Cricket Theme" by Phase Music, which was written specially for the programme. The programme is currently sponsored by Sky Mobile.
Production
Cricket on 5 is produced by Sunset & Vine, a specialist sports production company who also produced award-winning live coverage of England Test matches on Channel 4 from 1999–2005.
End of Cricket on 5
In June 2017 it was announced that BBC Sport had secured the rights to be the free-to-air partner of the ECB from 2020. The BBC will cover 11 live matches from the men's new city based T20 competition, 8 matches from the women's domestic T20 competition, 2 Live England Men's T20 Internationals, and 2 Live Women's T20 Internationals. The BBC also secured the rights held by Channel 5 and will cover highlights of England Men's & Women's teams Test Matches, ODI, and T20 internationals alongside live radio rights and clip rights for the BBC Sport website. The final episode of "Cricket on 5" highlighted England's win at the last Ashes test of the 2019 Ashes series. The programme ended with all members of the current presenting team in front of the camera, thanking the viewers, and ending the association of Channel 5 with cricket. England CaptainJoe Root also thanked Channel 5 for their support over 13 years. BBC 2 will show highlights of all test matches at 7pm, as Channel 5 previously did, but the presenting team has not yet been announced.
