Sky secures rights for England cricket tours to Sri Lanka

UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB has reached an agreement to show the England cricket team’s next two tours of Sri Lanka.

England will play five one-day internationals and a pair of Twenty20 games against Sri Lanka in November as it steps up preparations for the 2015 World Cup, while the 2018 tour will feature three Tests, five ODIs and one T20.

The deal was agreed with Indian subcontinent pay-television broadcaster Taj Television, which holds Sri Lanka Cricket’s global rights over seven seasons, from 2013-14 to 2019-20.

Sky announced earlier this week that it had signed an exclusive three-year rights deal for the Indian Premier League covering the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons of the Twenty20 cricket competition.