WICB strike four-year deal with ESPN for Super50 tournament

Dwayne Bravo in action for T&T during the Super50 tournament last year

St. John's (Antigua), Jan 10 - The cash-strapped West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has struck a four-year rights deal with global sports giant ESPN to broadcast the NAGICO Super50 in the Caribbean.

The deal takes effect from this year's edition of the tournament, scheduled to be played in Trinidad and Tobago from January 15 to 24. No mention was made of how much the deal was worth on Friday, reports CMC.

Under the agreement, all nine matches scheduled for the historic Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain - including the semi-finals and grand final - will be televised live on the ESPN Caribbean and ESPN 2 Caribbean television networks, as well as on ESPN Play (www.espnplay.com) - ESPN's multi-screen live and on-demand broadband service.

Overall, 15 matches are scheduled to be played in the tournament.

"We are delighted to continue our relationship with ESPN for another four years which means we will continue to give our players and West Indies cricket further exposure," WICB Commercial Manager Nelecia Yeates said.

"ESPN continues to show its commitment to growth of cricket in the Caribbean and together we hope to build on the sport's place in the consciousness of our fans everywhere, as the WICB works hard to restore the rich legacy of West Indies cricket."

The Super50 is the Caribbean's premier one-day tournament and features four teams competing in two groups for spots in the semi-final round, scheduled to bowl off on January 22-23.

Matches will be available to cricket fans live and on-demand in the US courtesy of ESPN3, ESPN's live multi-screen sports network accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Scott McGlone, ESPN International's Director of Programming, was upbeat over the development.

"We are pleased to extend our relationship with the WICB who are a highly valued partner in the Caribbean," he said.

"The NAGICO Super50 is an important part of our cricket offering, allowing us to bring Caribbean fans the very best local events along with top international cricket including the ICC Cricket World Cup coming up in February and March."

Highlights will be shown the following day on Caribbean Media Corporation partner stations along with ESPN networks and the WICB's official website, www.windiescricket.com.