Channel 5 has made its first foray into live cricket and will show five matches from Australia's Big Bash League this winter.

Freeview channels ITV4 and Dave have shown the Indian Premier League and Caribbean Premier League respectively in recent years, but the deal marks the sport's return to mainstream free-to-air broadcast for the first time since the 2005 Ashes.

BT Sport, which will show the 2017-18 Ashes after making its own move into the cricket market, has the rights for all 35 BBL games but has agreed a deal which also allows Channel 5 highlights of the final.

Channel 5's first game will see Kevin Pietersen's Melbourne Stars in action on Boxing Day

The network's first game will be on Boxing Day, when Stuart Broad's Hobart Hurricances face Kevin Pietersen's Melbourne Stars.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan, record wicket-taker James Anderson and former internationals Michael Carberry and James Taylor will all be involved in coverage.

England one-day captain Eoin Morgan, Ian Bell, Jason Roy and Luke Wright are also contracted to one of the eight franchises.

'We're delighted to give a terrestrial home to live cricket for the first time in over a decade,' said executive producer Mark Sharman.

'The competition complements our growing sports portfolio which includes international cricket, live boxing and top class motor sports.'