ICC’s treat to fans amid COVID-19 pandemic; opens archive for its broadcasters   

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has chosen to open its comprehensive archive of match footage and programming to its broadcast partners, giving global audiences an opportunity to relive some of the greatest cricketing moments of the last 45 years as they stay home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The move will enable fans around the world to watch memorable cricket matches, highlights and ICC films at a time live sport programming stands disrupted due to the Coronavirus. ICC events dating back to 1975, including the men’s and women’s ICC Cricket World Cups and T20 World Cups, the Champions Trophy as well as the U-19 World Cups have been made available.

In addition to that fans can join in the fun via ‘Watch Parties’ on the ICC’s Facebook page where some of the most iconic games in the history of the sport will be replayed in full. Match highlights and tournament recaps will also be delivered through ICC social media channels, website and mobile app and fans can get involved and vote on the memories they want to see from the ICC archive.

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“We are facing unprecedented times as a sports industry and the need to connect with our fan communities is perhaps greater than ever,” ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said. “With no live cricket to unite our fans around the world we thought the next best thing would be to release our archive to broadcast partners so fans can enjoy some magnificent memories.

 “We hope this move will help our broadcast partners replace cancelled sports fixtures with some highly engaging content and give cricket fans the opportunity to relive some of the great cricketing moments whilst we all stay at home,” he added.

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Aside from the wide range of men's tournaments, fans will also be re-experience women’s matches from the 2009 and 2013 editions of the ODI World Cups in Australia and India, apart from matches of different T20 World Cups.

There will also be several other similar programmes from other ICC Events while the programmes on women’s cricket include features on the stars of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2018 and the stars of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017