The International Cricket Council’s Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 includes a star-studded commentary panel providing expert opinion during the eight-team tournament in New Zealand, scheduled from 4 March to 3 April.
Debbie Hockley, Nasser Hussain, Lisa Sthalekar and Ian Smith have been named in the high-profile commentary team for the eight-team event.
The tournament will be the most widely distributed women’s cricket event of all time with Star Sports, Sky Sport, PTV, Gazi TV, Sky Sports and ESPN among broadcasters who will take the game to over one billion fans.
All matches of the prestigious tournament will be covered live by broadcast partners around the world, who will access a fully produced world feed programme from ICC TV using a minimum of 24 cameras at each of the six venues. The Decision Review System (DRS) will be available at all matches.
The commentary panel includes ICC Hall of Famers Debbie Hockley and Lisa Sthalekar, Anjum Chopra, Simon Doull, Mel Jones, Nasser Hussain, Lesley Murdoch, Natalie Germanos, Ian Smith, Lydia Greenway, Stacy-Ann King, Sanjay Manjrekar, Sana Mir, WV Raman, Kass Naidoo and Alan Wilkins.
According to Debbie Hockley, “I have been waiting for this World Cup with great anticipation as has all of New Zealand. The 50-over World Cup is the ultimate tournament in many ways and it’s a matter of great honour for New Zealand to be hosting it for the third time.
“I have wonderful memories of this event, especially lifting the trophy at home in the year 2000. As part of the commentary panel, I am fortunate to be close to the action again and I think we might see history being repeated with the White Ferns coming on top at home!”
Former England Men’s Captain Nasser Hussain, added, “Women’s cricket has made rapid progress in the past few years, and I have been following it very keenly. The world’s best have converged in New Zealand and I’m sure there are lots of thrills in store in the coming weeks.
“I can’t wait to get to the commentary box and watch the spectacle unfold.”
Sana Mir: “I have had the honour of leading Pakistan in World Cups and I understand what it means to the players. The ICC championships have given the teams out of the top four nations a great opportunity to prepare better. I look forward to high quality cricket and close encounters.
“I am thrilled to be a part of the commentary team for this mega event and to be working with top professionals.”
ICC’s all-inclusive presentation: ICC TV’s all-inclusive production will allow broadcasters to transmit the matches without the need for a unilateral presentation set-up. In addition to live match coverage, a 30-minute pre-game build-up, an innings interval show and a post-game wrap-up will also be produced by ICC TV.
This will be the most widely distributed women’s cricket event of all time with unprecedented coverage from Star Sports and its Licensees making each match available live on a global basis. In India, Star Sports will have Hindi commentary for all India matches.
In addition, India’s matches against New Zealand, Australia and Bangladesh will also be produced in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. In New Zealand, all the matches will be live on Sky Sports whilst highlights of all matches will be available on Sky’s Free to Air Channel Prime.
Meanwhile, in Australia, Fox Sports has announced a dedicated 24/7 channel for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. The event will be live for the first time on ESPN+ in the US in addition to Willow’s coverage on TV.
Digital content will be made available via the ICC Facebook and Instagram channels, with in-play clips and highlights clips in the Indian subcontinent) and 5-minute highlights (globally). In addition, BBC Sport (UK), ESPNCricinfo, ESPN and ESPN+ (U.S.A) and Spark Sport (NZ) will also provide coverage via short-form in-play and highlights clips.
BBC (UK), Sports Entertainment Network Radio (AUS & NZ) and Prasar Bharati (Hindi coverage via All India Radio) will have running commentaries on their FM channels, while Talk 100.3 FM of the United Arab Emirates will provide regular Hindi updates through the day. Prasar Bharati will additionally broadcast matches on their AM channel, while Digital 2 Sports will broadcast matches globally on their digital platform.
Broadcast partners include: