That will just be one or two cameras to give wicket updates. It won't be 'proper' coverage.

Do you expect them to show all matches ?

No.

Of course I don't.

I was responding to someone who said Colville had said Sky had cameras at other matches, and making it clear it wouldn't be for anything other than brief updates.

Yes i knew that thanks! Certainly sounds like they'll be taking live updates on the coverage though

Enjoying the ECB Club Finals Day coverage. Always enjoyed Clublife

Sky have all the brownie points they need with the ECB, if they don't win the next set of rights it will purely be because of money, not because they didn't show an extra Championship game

You can always have more brownie points. It doesn't hurt. Sometimes sports decide against the highest bidder. Covering a few extra niche matches won't hurt.

That's all I was getting at.

Which would be a factor in certain circumstances. However this 'dose of smelling salts' to Sky is all about tearing up the conventional aspects of county cricket

Nothing about this is philanthropic, this is all about raking in and making as much money as possible.

It's also about expanding the interest. They want a big competition, they talk of being on network tv. Sky have more to offer than BT, just like BBC1 has more to offer than C4.

Clearly it doesn't matter if BT blows them out of the water (to quote Sugar) like sky did ITV 25 years ago or BT did re the UCL. You need to be close; BBC wasn't last week.

Rugby League went with less money to stay with sky and it paid off. My guess is sky will keep cricket because they need it more than BT.

Maybe cricket will just take thr most money in an auction. That would be especially sad now Mix offeres a wider reach.

Royal London Cup Final On 1st July makes sense.

Also the T20 Finals day on September 2nd makes sense, as they are less concerned about playing in the rain, and bad light doesnt really matter.

As we have tests next summer in September, will they be working around a 10.30/5.30 day to fit in the same structure as County Championship games do in September.

If we still go for 11/6 with a extra half an hour added to go to 6.30, bad light will b definitely kicking in even with the floodlights. Imagine if time was lost and play went on til 7.30you would have no hope.

Used to be really good when they used to show it Live.

If they could get a OB Truck to the venue, you would think ECB Club Finals Day, would be a good way or Sky to find new talent in presenting

I'd not thought of that. Yes i Imagine they will have to go with 10.30-5.30 days
Talk of a D/N test won't go away either

You would have thought a September test in this country's would be an ideal choice for a D/N Test

Possibly with Sessions of
2.30/4.30
5.10/7.10
7.30/9.30 with half an hours extra play if possible up to 10

It'll will be interesting to see what happens. It's notable that recently there's been a purely daytime pink/orange ball trial (with possibly another one next week). Could be a way of getting round an 11am start

For TV yes. But its cool out there. And I noticed last week (during a heatwave) just how wet the grass was at 8pm

The problem with day night cricket here is that the top temperature is often on ly 20°. Once it is dark it can be 15°. Or less. That's not pleasant and isn't a problem in Adelaide.

I'd rather we tried starting Tests at 12:30 and run till 20:00. Obviously this alters depending on the month. You can stay with the red ball and utilise what little warmth we have.

I barely saw any of last year's Ashes. This way kids and workers see play after school/work which has to be good for TV and cricket. The grounds still get the food and drink sales.

It's a halfway answer to our weather problem and takes advantage of our long days.

I'm not sure overseas TV would like it. Especially Indian tv. And Beefy and co wouldn't like it upsetting their evenings. It'd be almost as bad as Cook not enforcing the follow-on to them.

they tried a day night first class game in india worked very well in a very green lush outfield/pitch but failed in a normal pitched and outfield.
reports of the ball going grey/black and discoloured.
the abrasive pitch, due not helping matters.
so far the report is that it won't work in the winter.
can't see the Day night test working in September or in Asia.

Middlesex V Yorkshire - County Championship (All 4 days are on Sky Sports Mix)

How is that a problem? We hold Tests in May, when the DAYTIME temperature is often less than that!

I wouldn't say that they are a great idea either!

Day/night cricket of any sort is a big ask in September. This week we are as further away from midsummer's day than we are the last week in march, and would we seriously consider cricket then?
That's not to say September doesn't produce wonderful weather (cracking the pavements in Fleetwood today) but after 6 it goes chilly quickly more often than not, so add to the chill there's the dew and little evaportation.
It could be done with a drop-in wicket surrounded by astro - but which county will cover their ground with astroturf? Actually, that probably will happen one day!
Day/night Tests and CC games, June and July and very early August, and with good floodlights I don't think there would be a need for a pink/yellow ball, just play normally in whites.
Club sides play until 8.30pm and beyond in the middle of summer, without lights, so having them on and ending play when sun sets/dusk begins...can't really see a problem.

One option is Boycott's Law...play 4 day Tests beginning at 11.30am and finishing at 8.30pm. Long day for the players and more so the umpires (hey, there are three or four there, rotate them!) but Gillette Cup cricket started at 11am and finished well beyond 8pm often enough!

That's not very fan friendly. A day at a test match is long and expensive.
Suppose you could sell half or session tickets

Thought that was part of the idea, to sell tickets for after the offices close for the night? In the CC you get deals for after tea, but play ends by 6 - 6.30 so that's about 2 hrs worth, so if you could get the Test extended to 8.30 that's a good, what, three hours after work?

Would it be unfair to have (Tests) two day/evening days - to catch the Thurs/Fri workers, followed by three days with "normal" hours?

Precisely. So what if that's a day/nighter? It could be single digits. I wonder how many fans would leave early.

The problem with night play here is that it probably will be nippy whereas with day play it's sometimes nippy.

That was depressing just typing that!

Re the Boycott idea... It's too long a day and it will be ruined by rain here and abroad. The sun has less time to change the pitch or dry the outfield. Does that affect the ball or spinners?

It's not in our culture to go to watch a bit of a day's play. How do you get people to leave who only bought tickets for the first half of the day or are they expected to be there for the whole day?