Watching cricket matches live via the Internet

As some of you will be following very closely, the Ashes commences on Thursday.

Even though England's chances are running at slim to nothing, it would still be pretty good to be able to watch some of the action. After the run of Rugby and Football performances, I am getting used to England under performing on the international stage.

It seems that a few companies (i.e. www.willow.tv) will be streaming it live via the internet for USD100 for the entire series.

Has anyone tried a service like this? If so, what is the quality like on a regular home broadband 1000 connection? What is the commentary like?

I have just looked on the BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra homepage and they say that the commentary stream will only be available to UK residents. Any ideas on how you can get around this - I tried at work to use our UK internet proxy, but somehow the pesky BBC worked out I was in sausage land, and didn't let me listen to it. I think this is an old problem, but don't think a solution has been found yet...

Any help/ideas will be much appreciated.

I know Roots streams cricket series. He doesn't post on TT anymore, but you can probably PM him and ask him.

As for me, I'll be watching at my bar!!

I too had heard about www.willow.tv but can't vouch for the quality. I do cap in xvid format the highlights of terrestrial television on UKNova (www.uknova.com) for expats (I covered the Tests and ODIs from this summer against Sri Lanka & Pakistan that were broadcast on Five, and will do so again for the Ashes down under and indeed the ODI series against Australia and the World Cup all broadcast on BBC). An alternative is www.crictorrents.com, which has several Australian members who may upload alternative caps of the action, where you may find Sky's transmissions available (obviously after the event). Sorry I can't help more - I've tried the proxy server route myself and agree it's totally frustrating.

Can we agree when the first day of the Ashes is?

I thought it starts Thursday, but my editor boss type dude said it starts Sunday.

Help!

Also, what is the deal with England? This is exactly why the fr@@@ trophy is called the ashes.

Why can't they kowallop the Aussies?

Can someone enlighten me on the deal why the men downundah are so much stronger?

Foster's? Tooth's? Is there a Tooth fairy?

BBC says:

Thursday, 23 November 2006
Test Match Series
First Test Match
Australia v England, Brisbane, 0:00

now is 0:00 o'clock at the beginning of thursday (ie just after 23:59 on wednesday) or the end of thursday (ie just before 00:01 on the friday)

edit: ok i just checked out the Sky TV listings and coverage appears to start on wednesday evening at 11pm so they'll probably have an hour of boring chit chat before the match starts at midnight.

kicks off wednesday night. come on you poms!

It starts on Thursday, just like any well-behaved Test Match should.

I am a complete idiot.

Please can someone include a link showing the time of the first test?

I watched a lot of the ICC champions trophy on the internet and the quality was ok. I watch the rugby using media zone and the quality is excelent.

I have signed up with willow to watch the ashes (which starts at midnight on wednesday pommy time btw) and will report later in the week on the quality

Fixture list for the whole tour from the BBC.
Just add an hour for Viennese Standard Time.

Next week!

NOT THIS WEEK!

The game starts on thursday (as all Test matches do) and it is THIS week i.e. in 2 days!

can't wait...

I assume that Sky Sports has exclusive live TV coverage?

I watched many a series on Willow.tv last couple of years and I can definitely recommend it. It is not TV but it is not bad at all in both video and audio quality. I watch it on my 2 year old laptop so I am guessing the picture quality is probably better on one of these new flat panel desktop monitors. I hardly ever had any streaming problems. Occasianlly it gets a bit choppy but over all it is pretty stable and is almost like watching TV. Also I say just buy the entire series package--it works out cheaper than buying each match even if you want to catch a few games in the pub like I normally do.

For just commentary, usually cricinfo.com also has paid commentary for a few bucks (like $4 or $5). Another free option is http://www.abc.net.au/cricket/ from Australia. I found their audio quality exceptional.

Err, no. This week. In about 36 hours.


Err, no. Not all. For instance back-to-back matches cannot both start on a Thursday because there are not enough rest days in between.

will the Arc be opening for all live sessions, do you think?

Well it ought to be still open from the night before for the start of play on most days, especially at weekends.
As Hazza pointed out last night, Perth will be crap because it starts much later.

Here you all go, a list of the Ashes Tests with starting days and dates:
Brisbane Thursday 23.11
Adelaide Friday 1.12
Perth Thursday 14.12
Melbourne Tuesday 26.12
Sydney Tuesday 2.1

Cheers for the advice. For the games where I nod off, I have seen the Sky are showing "extended highlights" every evening at 7.30pm for a couple of hours - so at least can get a feel of the action down at the pub.

I can't believe I will not be able to listen to the fruity tones of Blowers, Aggers et al on TMS but might try some of the Aussie radio stations - that is quite a good idea. Hopefully, they don't have a similarly fascist IP blocker.

You guys are right. If your boss says the contrary, sometimes it's best to just leave it alone.

Can't wait!

I watched couple of cricket matches from www.willow.tv and the streaming quality is good but I would
suggest to check the trial clip before buying the package .I think www.cricketon.tv is coming up with
great packages, check that too.

Are there any other options for watching cricket over the internet now?

It looks like my Sky Tv is going to cost too much to install in my flat once I move out. I want to leave the Sky box with the nagging bitch from hell wife as the kids watch English television and are clearly learning the language from it.

I'm not adverse to peer to peer TV but no little or nothing about it. A source for english language kids TV would also be useful.

I don't know if it's any good but look here: http://wwitv.com/portal.htm

Install SOPCAST
I watch almost all the matches over here, and the quality and speed is also more than satisfying..

Just watching the end of the India v Pakistan test on Sopcast.

Very good. Thanks for the tip.

So I've got the Sri Lanka v England game up but there is no sound on this feed.

Anybody got any idea how I might get some sound? I've tried the 5 live audio feed but that is UK only.

Link to Sri Lanka v England