Fairfax Radio Network has announced its cricket commentary team as the first ball is sent down in this summer’s Ashes Series between Australia and England at the Gabba in Brisbane, following its five-year broadcasting agreement with Cricket Australia.
 
The commentary team will include two former Australian skippers, Ian Chappell and Allan Border, former Test and one-day run-machine Dean Jones and former Test and One Day International (ODI) star Damien Fleming, one of only three bowlers in Test history to achieve a hat trick on debut. Greg Blewett also starred on Test debut with a century at the Adelaide Oval against England.
 
Joining the team from Perth will be former Australian coach Mickey Arthur and current coach and former batsman, Darren Lehmann, and England’s former batsman Michael Vaughan, who captained England in 51 Tests, and BBC commentator, Henry Blofeld.
 
The ball-by-ball coverage across all forms of the game will be anchored by former ABC commentator Tim Lane and 3AW sports caller and club player Bruce Eva.
 
Fairfax Radio Network National Content Director Clark Forbes said: “Today Fairfax Radio Network arrives at the crease and, for the first time, a commercial broadcaster will be calling the majority of the summer’s cricket. We are thrilled with the depth of experience and talent of our commentary team, who will bring another dimension to our cricket coverage. This is shaping up as the busiest summer ever on our network involving a large number of staff from around Australia both in front and behind the microphone delivering for the first time truly networked programming. It’s going to be a great summer of cricket.”

This year Fairfax Radio will broadcast ball-by-ball coverage of the Melbourne and Sydney Tests in the Ashes series. The other three Test matches, in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, will see Fairfax Radio sports journalists present comprehensive updates throughout play. In addition, Fairfax Radio will provide coverage of the five International One Day fixtures, the three International T20s and the 35 Big Bash League (BBL) matches.

As well as providing comprehensive coverage from this team of experts, Fairfax Radio will soon launch a dedicated digital sport and news channel to broadcast the entire summer of cricket live. To be known as Fairfax Radio NTS (News Talk Sport), it will broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week on DAB+. In addition to the cricket coverage, Fairfax Radio NTS will include regular sports updates.
 
Clark Forbes said: “The new channel, which will be heard in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne, will also present a broad selection of the best broadcasting our network has to offer, as well as a comprehensive hourly news service. NTS will continue broadcasting after the cricket season has ended and will become the home of quality news and sports coverage on DAB+.”

All Fairfax Radio’s AM stations will carry the two Tests, the five ODIs and the three International T20s, and BBL games will have a more localised approach – meaning if a Sydney BBL team is playing a Melbourne team, both 3AW and 2UE will carry the match.
 
Earlier this month, Fairfax Radio announced that it had secured the broadcast rights for the 2013/14 to 2017/18 Australian cricket seasons. Under the agreement, Fairfax Radio Network will broadcast international matches across 3AW Melbourne, 2UE Sydney, 4BC Brisbane and 6PR Perth.