1 The free to air rights cover England's tours of Sri Lanka and the West Indies tours in 2018 and 2019 respectively

talkSPORT has won the cricket audio rights for England’s major upcoming overseas tours.

It is the first time BBC Five Live’s Test Match Special programme has lost the rights for an England away tour to a commercial broadcaster since 2005.

The free to air rights cover England’s tours of Sri Lanka and the West Indies including all the Test matches, ODIs and T20 internationals from each tour.

Every ball will be broadcast across a mixture of talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 with a dedicated team of pundits at the ground to bring listeners all the drama as it unfolds.

talkSPORT last broadcast live England overseas cricket rights in 2005, with exclusive commentary for the past two years of the IPL plus every match of the World Twenty20 in 2016 and Champions Trophy last summer.

Wireless Group CEO Scott Taunton said: “Winning these prestigious rights is a great victory for talkSPORT and its first-class coverage.

“England’s overseas tours are sure to lure large audiences of fans as we cement talkSPORT’s position as the fans’ favourite for sporting news, analysis and live coverage.

“I’m delighted that we will be with England fans for every ball of the day throughout these winter tours, with our own expert line-up of cricketing stars.”

talkSPORT Drive presenter Darren Gough, who also hosts Cricket Week on talkSPORT2, said: “England’s supporters are the best in the world and loyally follow the team around the cricketing globe.

“Come day or night and rain or shine, we’ll be there with the fans as all the drama unfolds and with a full analysis of the day’s play.”

The first England game to be broadcast on talkSPORT will be England’s ODI series against Sri Lanka, starting on October 10, 2018.