TNT Sports will lean on some familiar voices from rugby union and cycling when the Ashes return next month, opting for a hybrid commentary model that mixes on-site punditry in Australia with play-by-play calls from a London studio.
Alastair Cook, Steven Finn and Graeme Swann will be on the ground for all five Tests, offering technical insight and a feel for conditions. Presenter Becky Ives is also heading Down Under. Back home, experienced TNT callers Alastair Eykyn and Rob Hatch – best known for Premiership Rugby and Grand Tours – will anchor the ball-by-ball. Ebony Rainford-Brent joins them in the UK booth, adding recent playing experience and a broadcaster’s polish.
Scott Young, executive vice-president at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, accepts that Eykyn and Hatch are crossing codes but insists they will fit. “They are huge cricket fans,” he said. “They will not try to pretend they are part of cricket history. They are great commentators in their own right… who can really drive a narrative.”
TNT covered the 2021-22 Ashes largely through Fox Sports’ world feed, supplementing it with a London studio show. This time Young wanted something that felt “owned”, even if that meant splitting the cast across two continents. “The Ashes is a step above that. TNT Sports is a step above that… Nothing against the world feed, which will be a great production. But we needed to talk about what the Ashes meant to our audience, to TNT Sports.”
The broadcaster believes cross-sport familiarity can pull in casual viewers. “That’s why we’re bringing many of our sports broadcasters into the fold. It’s about bringing the football, rugby, even fight-sports fan-base, and making them aware of the Ashes as a moment in time. This is not just a cricket Test, it’s the Ashes. If we can get people who are not normally going to watch cricket for a day or a Test, then that’s very much part of the TNT Sports ethos.”
Daily highlights will air each evening, followed by The Edge, a review show aimed at viewers who only caught the short form. That approach echoes TNT’s recent winter in India, when Cook, Finn and presenter Kate Mason decamped to a remote studio in Sweden because London space was at a premium. On that tour Matt Floyd even fronted the first Test alone after TNT secured rights barely in time.
Rights-wise, TNT now holds every England men’s overseas series this winter: limited-overs trips to New Zealand and Sri Lanka book-ending the Ashes. Domestic Tests and ICC events remain with Sky Sports, but the gap has narrowed.
Technically, Young is confident the split setup will feel seamless. “There are different ways we will do it,” he explained. “Our play-by-play team will be here. The pundits will be here, or on-site. The way it works is that you won’t know where they are, the way the commentary booths are set up.”
For all the planning, the proof will come once the first ball is bowled in Brisbane. Viewers will decide whether a rugby-cycling-cricket blend sounds natural or jarring. Either way, TNT is betting that mixing sports – literally and figuratively – can make the Ashes resonate beyond its traditional audience.
