Last Updated on 3 years by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: Men’s World Cups on Channel 9, Women’s ODI World Cup behind paywall | Women’s ODI World Cup not on free-to-air

International cricket will return to Channel 9 this year, with the network confirming it will broadcast all matches of the next two Men’s World Cups.

Australia will host this year’s T20 tournament and will aim to defend their crown after a terrific triumph in the UAE last year. The network will also broadcast the 2023 ODI World Cup, which will be held in India.

Channel 9 lost the right to the Australian home summer in April 2018, with Cricket Australia (CA) snapping up a $1.2 billion deal across Channel 7 and Fox Cricket. Brent Williams, Nine’s Director of Sport, is excited for the return of men’s cricket to the network.

“Any cricket World Cup is a premium event on the international calendar and we’re excited to be the free-to-air home of the 2022 (men’s) T20 World Cup in Australia and the 2023 (men’s ODI) World Cup which will be held in India,” Williams said in a release.

“Nine has a long and proud history with cricket and we look forward to that continuing with all Australian and key matches of these prestigious events being broadcast across Nine’s platforms.”

Disappointment as Women’s ODI World Cup behind paywall

However, there is a sense of disappointment as the Women’s ODI World Cup in New Zealand will not be broadcast on Free-to-Air television. Instead, the tournament, which starts on March 4, will be broadcast behind a paywall, with only fans with a Foxtel or Kayo subscription able to access the content.

It is a blow for the women’s game, particularly after the successful T20 World Cup of 2020 that saw nearly 90,000 fans flock the MCG to see Australia win the Final. Also, the recent Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) broke all sorts of records, including crowd and viewership numbers.

Australia wicket-keeper batter Alyssa Healy took to Twitter to express her disappointment and offer Kayo subscriptions to 20 lucky fans.

“In light of this mornings “interesting” news – I’m going to offer up 20x @kayosports Gift Cards for people to be able to watch our World Cup next month…” tweeted Healy with the hashtag #BreakTheBias.

Australia, who recently won a world record 26 consecutive ODI matches, will attempt to reclaim the World Cup crown from England who won the title at Lord’s in 2017 vs India.

Meg Lanning’s team will begin their campaign against England on 5 March at Hamilton, before playing South Africa, India and New Zealand in a challenging group.