Ireland’s historic first Test match against Pakistan next month will be shown live on Sky Sports, with a one-hour highlights package being broadcast on RTÉ on each day of play.
The two broadcasters will also show the T20 internationals between Ireland and India at the end of June, with Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom claiming that the India games "will be biggest worldwide TV audience of any event – sporting or otherwise – ever staged in Ireland".
Cricket Ireland have also contracted sports marketing agency Pitch International to sell the worldwide rights for their games.
The return of Irish cricket to terrestrial television is fitting as RTÉ broke ground for Pakistan’s first visit here in 1962, showing the last two hours of play live from the two-day match at College Park in Dublin.
Malahide will play host to Ireland’s big fixtures, with the Test match starting on Friday, May 11th, while the T20 internationals are scheduled for June 27th and 29th.
Cricket Ireland are confident that the international rights will provide a lucrative income stream in years to come as Ireland’s fixture list increases.
Chief Executive Warren Deutrom said: “This broadcast package is set to break Irish sporting records, as we anticipate that the T20I series against India alone will be the biggest worldwide TV audience of any event – sporting or otherwise – ever staged in Ireland.
“Since being confirmed as a Full Member of the International Cricket Council in June 2017, we have seen unprecedented interest in Irish cricket – most notably from a range of potential broadcast partners.”
“We are delighted to announce today the structure of the broadcasting schedule for the coming season, and we anticipate our fans worldwide will be pleased with the comprehensive nature of the package.”
“The combined broadcast audience for our summer of men’s cricket will reach many millions of sets of eyeballs – a remarkable achievement for a sporting team that only entered the global consciousness just over a decade ago after its heroics at the 2007 Cricket World Cup.”
RTÉ group head of sport, Ryle Nugent, said: “Cricket Ireland’s long journey to Test status reaches a fitting conclusion with a first ever Test Match at home against Pakistan and it is appropriate that the national broadcaster should be there to bring highlights of this historic occasion to Irish viewers free-to-air.”
