Sky Sports has beaten off BT Sport to keep hold of the live rights to English cricket from 2020-2024 and the sport will also return to the BBC for the first time since 1999 when the England & Wales Cricket Board announces the results of its broadcast auction later on Friday.

Sky has preserved its place as the home of live cricket broadcasting after outbidding BT Sport for the rights to English cricket, extending its current deal for a further seven years.

But the big winner is the BBC, which has won the free to air, digital and radio rights packages put up for sale by the ECB signalling the return of live English cricket to free to air television for the first time since 2005.

The BBC will show 12 live games, 10 from the new Twenty20 tournament and two England Twenty20 internationals, as well as highlights of all England cricket. The BBC will show live coverage of the final of the new Twenty20 competition, which is to be launched in 2020.

Test Match Special will also continue to be the home of live cricket on the radio and the BBC’s website and social media channels will have exclusive access to digital clips, the massive growth area over the lifetime of this new deal.