No there isn't. It's free-to-air channels not wanting to show live Cricket or pay too much for it. BBC chose to show F1 ahead of The Ashes which baffled me somewhat. 4 didn't want the coverage again and Five couldn't match Sky's bid. So basically it's mostly about the money.
That's exactly what I said - its all about the money. The cricket authorities sell the rights to the highest bidder and don't give a thought to viewing figures. The more people that watch cricket, the more people that will follow cricket, the more people that will go to cricket matches and so on. By allowing all cricket rights to go to pay channels, its going to reduce the number of people that watch the game and the interest / following.
I'm not a massive cricket fan, I'll follow the England games but that's about it. I used to only follow them via the text on the BBC website, but I got Sky sports to watch the football so I'm able to watch the cricket as well - there is no way I'd pay for it otherwise.
But as I could, I also watched the Twenty20 World Cup and loved every minute of it. As a result there is a good chance I'll go and watch some county Twenty20 matches, but that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't watched the World Cup. If that had been on free to air channels I reckon they'd be seeing far better attendances at the county games.
