The Edgbaston Test between England and India, beginning Friday, July 1, will have fans witness one of its kind innovations in its broadcast.
Sky Sports are set to put a novel broadcast innovation in practise during the rescheduled fifth Test between England and India at Edgbaston, beginning Friday.
Ollie Pope, who became England’s designated No.3 in the recent Test series against New Zealand, will field wearing a Sky camera while fielding at his usual short-leg position. The camera won’t pick up noise, and so, there won’t be any concerns of what is said by Pope and the other fielders around, other than what is caught by the stump-mic, which is faded up and down at various junctures.
The concept will be put into use at the international level for the very first time, and has been cleared by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as well as the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The broadcasters hope that the innovation will “give viewers a unique view of the action out in the middle”.
The innovation was tried out at The Hundred last year, with Trent Rockets wicketkeeper Tom Moores wearing the camera. A top-edged catch had resulted in some outstanding visuals then.
This #ENGvIND Test should be a lot of fun!#CricketTwitterhttps://t.co/tuklOwur1c
— CricXtasy (@CricXtasy) June 29, 2022
England are currently on a high on the back of a resounding 3-0 series win against New Zealand under the new coach-captain pairing of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes.
India, meanwhile, had clean-swept Sri Lanka 2-0 at home in their last Test assignment earlier this year. The visitors lead the five-match series 2-1, having secured wins at Lord’s and The Oval on their last year’s trip, before the fifth Test would be postponed due to a covid-19 outbreak in their camp.
They continue an anxious wait over the availability of skipper Rohit Sharma, who was tested covid-19 positive for the second time on Wednesday. The Test carries a lot of significance for India in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 cycle, wherein they are currently placed third behind Australia and South Africa respectively.
