ECB hit out at BBC for failing to bid for cricket rights as Sky win new four-year deal until 2013

The new deal, which comes into force in 2009 after next summer's Ashes series, ensures there will be no cricket on public service broadcasting channels after the BBC decided against making a bid for the various packages.

That decision prompted criticism from Giles Clarke, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, who has called for a public debate into the BBC's policy for sports broadcasting rights.

ECB chairman Giles Clarke has hit out at the BBC

The ECB claim there are 19million people interested in cricket in this country with 2.5million men and boys and 900,000 women and girls all participating in the sport at all levels.

'Now is the time for a real debate on the future of public sector sports broadcasting, which I know is under consideration and under review,' said Clarke.

'All these people interested in cricket buy TV licences and surely they should have a right to expect that the public sector broadcasters mount bids for the nation's summer sport as they do in the case of one of them for 12 other sports?

'After all, just how many people play Formula One? If the BBC is to remain part of this it must answer to the millions of cricket fans in England and Wales how it prioritises its investment in sports rights.'

Asked whether it was a worry there was no cricket on BBC - and therefore easily accessible to the majority of the general public other than the highlights package on five - Clarke stressed 'I think it's a question for cricket fans to ask the BBC.

'We have spent a great deal of time on this since the last television rights. We took account of the views of the select committee that we should speak to all the broadcasters, which we did.

'There have been a lot of statements made by public sector broadcasters on what they were going to do - it is matter for them what, in the end they determined not to do.

'They make investments in 12 other sports, but whether those sports attract the same level of participation I don't know.

'We're talking 3.5million people, which is quite a large number of the population. The cricket club is increasingly the centre of a great deal of community life both in villages and in suburbs of our towns.'

But a BBC spokeswoman rejected the ECB's claims and said: 'The BBC is astonished by the comments by the ECB.

There hasn't been a domestic Test cricket series shown on free-to-air television since England famously beat the Australians in 2005

1. 'We've always said any bid for live Test cricket was subject to value for money and fitting into scheduling and in our view neither of these criteria were met.

'We have consistently argued that not having cricket as a listed event puts it out of the reach of all terrestrial broadcasters.

'That's the ECB's choice and they are entitled to it, but it's absurd to blame the BBC for this outcome.' 

The corporation hasn’t shown a live home Test match since South Africa toured in 1998, after which it lost the broadcast rights to Channel 4.

The BBC’s free-to-air rival won many plaudits for its re-vamping of the way cricket was covered on television - culminating in record-breaking audience figures, peaking at more than eight million, for the famous Ashes series victory in 2005.

But Sky, who already had the rights to England’s overseas tours, won the rights to England’s home Test matches from the following summer.

Many voices at the time raised concerns that the lack of live cricket on free-to-air TV would harm the popularity of the game, which was riding high following the Ashes victory, and the BBC was urged to bid for the rights when they came up again.

The BBC director general Mark Thompson promised two years ago that his organisation would 'look very closely at cricket again'.

Clive Leach, chairman of Durham and part of the ECB’s negotiating team, declared
himself 'surprised and disappointed' by the lack of a BBC bid, and added: 'I couldn’t quite understand the thinking.'