The Government is facing pressure to add the latter stages of the Cricket World Cup and the Ashes to the "crown jewels" list of live sport reserved for free-to-air television.

A Whitehall source all but ruled out any imminent review of its list of protected events on Monday as Sky have only recently agreed agreed to pay £1.1billion for the rights to show all of England’s home matches from 2020 to 2024.

However, rights to the next World Cup - in 2023 - have yet to be finalised, and a host of MPs have now come forward to say the explosion in interest in cricket following Sunday's triumph must be seized upon. Thanks to a one-off agreement with Sky to allow Channel 4 to broadcast the final, a combined peak audience of 8.3 million viewers watched the closing stages from Lord’s.

Clive Efford, the former shadow sports minister who is now a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee member, told Telegraph Sport that the sport's future depends on the sport getting more box office exposure.

"Money can't buy the impact of having these games available to the whole nation," he said. "There's another generation of fans and players that need to be inspired. The time has come for a review."