Free-to-air Broadcasting: Cricket Participation

Max Wilkinson Excerpts

Tuesday 9th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Max Wilkinson (Cheltenham) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the impact of free to air broadcasting on cricket participation.

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I don’t like cricket—I love it. How could I not love a sport that has given me the joy of the 2005 Ashes series, an England victory in the 2019 world cup and so many long afternoons in the sunshine, sometimes with whites on, sometimes with a real ale in my hand, and sometimes both at the same time? It is a sport that reminds us of patience, perseverance, heritage and tradition, and—rare in a world now dominated by doom scrolling and a 24/7 news cycle—the virtue of delayed gratification.

The English cricket calendar, however, has undergone a major change in my lifetime, particularly in the last few years. The season is now crowded, in large part due to the introduction of the Hundred: a competition focused on the search for a format that would work for that elusive thing, a new audience. We, of course, all applaud the England and Wales Cricket Board for searching for that audience.

At the outset I should state that I am open-minded about different forms of cricket. I enjoy all of it, but it is very strange that we have so many different formats in this country: five days for a test match, four days for the county championship, a 50-over competition, a 20-over competition, and now the Hundred, a new 100-ball contest run to a completely different pattern of play and contested by new franchises with which few long-standing cricket fans have any affinity. But it has brought new people in to follow the game—younger people.

[Gideon Amos (Taunton and Wellington) (LD)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. On the T20, will he take a moment to congratulate Somerset county cricket club for reaching the finals—I heard the cheering from my garden at the weekend—and will he recognise that county cricket needs all the support it can get?

[Max Wilkinson]

Yes, I will congratulate Somerset. As a Gloucestershire fan, I can tell the room that I was a member at Somerset as a student. It was an excellent deal, and we used to travel from Weston-super-Mare to sit in the ground at Taunton. I spent many fun days there. It is a pity that Somerset triumphed over Gloucestershire this summer, but we will have to look past that.

Let us start with the good news about the Hundred. Although the debate is sometimes shrill and the suggestion is that it has been a total disaster, there have been some good points to the Hundred. It is pretty much the only high-profile cricket available on traditional free-to-air television, although some of the one-day internationals are on free to air too. The model has undeniably helped to fund the wider sport with new income. It has promoted the women’s game and there is more income for disabled cricket as well. The sale of franchises has brought new investment, which has been shared among the traditional counties. That success is to be welcomed, but it has not come without cost—I know that cost is acknowledged in the sport.

Even as somebody who is open-minded, I feel somewhat alienated by the Hundred. There is no team competing in the Hundred that represents my town, my county, or indeed the entire west region. For those who have suggested that the Welsh Fire is the west’s team, I beg to differ. I suspect Welsh cricket fans will be pleased to hear me say that I am not going to attend Sophia Gardens to support the Welsh Fire any time soon.

The creation of the Hundred means four-day county cricket has been pushed to the peripheries of the season, with August reserved for the short form of the game, although this year the amazing end to the final England-India test did just creep into the start of August, into the summer holiday period. As a knock-on effect, it is argued by many in the game that time and player availability for county championship cricket, which is crucial for test match preparation, has been greatly cut back. It is worrying to see the bedrock of the sport being pushed to the margins in that way. The fans who attend their county grounds and many of those involved in the administration of cricket at all levels could be forgiven for feeling overlooked and ignored. I have heard from many of those people.

What of the impact on the choices forced on test match players who deserve opportunities for time in the middle? What about the impact on the One-Day cup, which will never gather as much attention in August as the Hundred, despite serving up some absolutely brilliant cricket?

[Charlie Dewhirst (Bridlington and The Wolds) (Con)]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this debate. Does he agree that another problem with the lack of four-day county cricket during the August period is that it is pushed to the margins, which impacts on batting development for future test players, as they are playing in the colder conditions of the early season, and inhibits the development of spin bowlers, who struggle at that time of year? We are perhaps inhibiting some player development in both batting and bowling for our future test stars.

[Max Wilkinson]

The hon. Gentleman makes some really good points that have been rehearsed by cricket commentators over the last few years. I believe we have to bear that point in mind, and I may come on to it a little later.

It is no secret that this jumble of the calendar has profound consequences. As I said at the beginning, the ECB is doing the right thing by looking for new audiences, increased participation and more cricket on television. It might argue that participation is increasing as a result of the Hundred and the investment brought about by deals with subscription channels for test matches and other forms of cricket. Indeed, there is clear evidence that watching sport leads to increased participation and more money flowing into the game. The ECB reported a 61% increase in amateur cricket club membership following England’s victory at the 2019 world cup. Sadly, however, these days only a handful of free-to-air cricket matches are available each year in the traditional media, and county club cricket takes a variable approach to broadcast.

We should consider the wider consequences of the situation. It is a jumbled calendar with multiple different formats that are confusing to many and a lack of free-to-air broadcast. That cumulative impact risks alienating existing fans while reducing the number of younger people engaging with different forms of the game that are not the short-form Hundred, and making it harder for our test team to thrive. It also puts at risk the long-term sustainability of the county game.

Peter Matthews, chair of Gloucestershire county cricket club, told me:

“Cricket needs to be played at a time when the next generation can be encouraged to go. If this isn’t the case, it will continue to be watched by retired folk and will not grow a new audience. This means that weekends and school holidays are important. Right now, there is very little county cricket in the school holidays, other than ‘The Hundred’ (only at eight venues) and the One Day Cup. Non-hosts have a total of four days home cricket at the height of summer. This cannot be helpful commercially or for developing the next generation of cricket lovers.”

That is a warning from the chair of a club that is doing a lot of good work with the ECB to make cricket more accessible for all through the Gloucestershire cricket talent pathway.

That warning comes as state school cricket continues to suffer decline, bringing about the opposite of the ECB’s aim to increase participation. Peter also told me about the difficulties presented to those counties that retain much-loved out-ground festivals. The Cheltenham cricket festival is the world’s longest-running out-ground festival, having started in 1872. These out-ground festivals bring cricket closer to communities and should be encouraged, but they risk falling victim to ever-higher running costs and an overcrowded cricket calendar.

The Liberal Democrats believe in giving sport back to the fans, which is why we are calling on the Government, the ECB and others to act. We favour taking the more televised fixtures out from behind paywalls. We favour boosting participation by investing in grassroots facilities—I know the ECB is doing that with new indoor domes. We favour supporting community sports clubs too. While the Government clearly cannot interfere in the governance of sport, and I am not suggesting that they should, the nation’s shared interest in cricket should provide Ministers and Members with an important opportunity to engages with the ECB and all others in cricket authority about options that lower barriers to participation, including discussions about the cricket calendar.

Finally, we should consider whether the apparent commercial success of the Hundred might have been achieved by other means. Could the T20 Blast have been adapted to bring new revenues and audiences? Will it be adapted like that in future? Could the Blast and the Hundred be combined or tweaked in a way that protects the traditional forms of the game while retaining new audiences, perhaps with some cricket broadcast via a free-to-air model? The Hundred came about after a well-meaning discussion about participation and audiences, but the challenges that cricket faces as a sport are nothing new. As David “Bumble” Lloyd recently told the excellent “Sports Agents” podcast,

“the game has been dying since I started in 1963.”

That game has constantly adapted to survive. Those with longer memories will recall the fierce debate when limited-overs cricket was introduced in the first place, but at least those formats took the existing pattern of play, making it easier for fans of traditional cricket to understand what was going on. If we can properly balance the cricketing schedule to bring county cricket back into focus, the game can protect its local links and cricket will continue to thrive. We must ask whether the long-term prosperity of the game, the counties and the England team is best served by the continuation of the Hundred in its current form—that is, distinct from the continuation of the Hundred at all.

As part of the discussion we must of course focus on the test game, or we put at risk exactly the sort of moments that cricket fans cherish the most: Shane Warne’s ball of the century, Graham Thorpe batting in the dark in Karachi, the heroics of Chris Woakes coming out to bat with one arm in a sling, the 2019 Headingley test match and my favourite, the 2005 Ashes series—I was there for the day when we won at the Oval. Without those kind of moments, cricket ceases to be the special game it is.

--- Later in debate ---

[Max Wilkinson]

I thank all hon. Members for turning up for the debate. I have 12 minutes left, so I will take hon. Members through a rundown of my debut for the Uphill Castle cricket club under-13s back in 1997—it was a special occasion. I jest, of course.

This has been an important and instructive debate and there is a lot of common ground. I will quickly reflect on the point about “free to air”. It was in the title of the debate, but as we have heard free to air and broadcast coverage that is not free to air have a huge impact on how cricket is consumed, participation levels and the cricket calendar. The point I was attempting to draw out about the Hundred is that, although it has been a success in getting more cricket broadcast on free to air, there have been unintended consequences. That is the point that the ECB and everyone with an interest in cricket needs to work to unravel.

Reflecting on the Minister’s comment on cricket books, such as “Michael Parkinson on Cricket”, I can recommend —if she is up for a cricket read—Geoffrey Boycott’s “Opening Up”, which is one of the best, and “Boycott on Cricket”: two excellent summer reads.

I join the Minister in saying that it is good news that the ECB is investing in domes; clearly, with the changeable weather in this country, we need many more of them. Domes are obviously useful for winter nets for young people, too.

The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (Mr French), set out the scale of the improvement in participation numbers, but clearly there is a wave here. Although in recent years participation has gone up a little bit—even quite a lot in some years, in which we have seen spikes in participation—the trend over the last 20 years or so has been downwards. That is what I think the ECB is trying to address by increasing participation and interest in cricket via the Hundred.

I will just reflect briefly on what various Members have said. The points about elitism, class, access and the availability of cricket to everyone are not lost on me. I went to a school where we played only one cricket fixture in five years and of course we got absolutely tonked in that one fixture. I do understand those points. I had to get all of my cricket by playing at a local club, Uphill Castle, and I am extremely grateful to all the coaches who gave their time there. Of course, increasing availability will come down to the levels of investment that the Government are making in education, the availability of PE teachers and the availability of sports pitches. Planning was also raised during this debate; it is an important point.

I would really hate for the hon. Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) to leave this debate thinking that I am one of those people who spends my whole time ranting about the Hundred and saying that we must abandon the tournament. That was not the purpose of this debate. I have many friends who tell me repeatedly that the Hundred must be stopped immediately, but that is not my view. I have been to watch the Hundred. Indeed, as a Hundred orphan, I had to go all the way to London to watch London Spirit play, because I have no local team.

There needs to be a lot more thought about how the ECB reworks the cricket calendar, so that in a few years’ time, when my daughter goes to school, we will have an opportunity to go and watch some cricket in the school holidays. At the moment, it is really difficult; it will be the Hundred or nothing and we do not have a team in the Hundred. We would have to come all the way back to London, or go to Birmingham, or Wales, or maybe even Leeds—somewhere else.

[Navendu Mishra]

Lancashire, perhaps.

[Max Wilkinson]

Lancashire, perhaps—yes, to Manchester.

Those are real issues that will have an impact on young people’s participation in cricket and so many people’s enjoyment of cricket. We need to think for much longer about how the calendar can work for everyone, whether that means the young people who want to go and watch cricket during their school holidays, or the old gents and ladies who attend games with their cheese and pickle sandwiches and their weak lemon squash, sitting all day in the sunshine watching the sport they love. That is the thing that I think is so special about cricket and it is why I love red ball and county championship cricket.

I thank all the Members who have taken part in this debate for their contributions and I thank you for chairing it, Ms McVey.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the impact of free to air broadcasting on cricket participation.