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Tag: NatWest

  • NatWest series to be aired live on ESPN

    NatWest series to be aired live on ESPN

    MUMBAI: The sixth edition of the NatWest series pits the oldest rivals in the history of the game, England and Australia along with minnows Bangladesh in 10 fiercely contested One Day Internationals.

    The series will be aired live on ESPN from 18 June to 2 July.

    For a change, World Champions Australia are on a back foot having been humbled by England by 100 runs in the Twenty 20 encounter and then loosing to the county team Somerset. However, the Australian team with world class players like Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Mathew Hayden, Glenn McGrath & Jason Gillespie would be confident of making a quick comeback.

    The schedule of the game on ESPN is as follows:

    Team
    Date
    Time
    2nd ODI – Australia v Bangladesh 18 June 15.13 to 23.00 hrs
    3rd ODI – England v Australia 19 June 15.13 to 21.00 hrs
    4th ODI – England v Bangladesh 21 June 18.58 to 00.00 hrs
    5th ODI – England v Australia 23 June 18.58 to 03.00 hrs
    6th ODI – Australia v Bangladesh 25 June 15.13 to 21.00 hrs
    7th ODI – England v Bangladesh 26 June 15.13 to 21.00 hrs
    8th ODI – England v Australia 28 June 18.58 to 03.00 hrs
    9th ODI – Australia v Bangladesh 30 June 15.13 to 23.00 hrs
    10th ODI – Finals 2 July 15.13 to 23.00 hrs

    England is riding high with recent series wins against South Africa and West Indies. Stephen Harmison, Andrew Flintoff and Marcus Trescothick under the able leadership of Micheal Vaughan have transpired England as a force to reckon with in the cricketing panorama.

    Having been routed by England in the test series, Bangladesh would be looking forward for a comeback. The Asian team beat Worcestershire in a tour game last week and are capable of surprising the English or Aussies in a one-off game.

    The NatWest series will serve as a build up to the Ashes Series that will follow the tournament. England would love to go in to the Ashes with their nose ahead to uproot the mighty Australians. However, Australia as always will have a different plan up there sleeve.

  • ESS lines up elaborate plans for Natwest Series

    ESS lines up elaborate plans for Natwest Series

    MUMBAI: There may be only three matches in next month’s Natwest Series between India and England. However, as with the English Premier League (EPL), ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has come up with a host of innovative specials to hook viewers further.

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com ESS’ spokesperson Himanshu Verma said, “As was the case with the Asia Cup, we will simulcast the NatWest Challenge. The three ODI’s on 1, 3 and 5 September will be simulcast in English on ESPN and in Hindi on Star Sports.

    “Our simulcast for the Asia Cup led to a 12-20 per cent increase in viewership on account of the Hindi feed. During the tournament, the combined channel share of ESPN and Star Sports was higher than any other channel among C&S males 15+ SEC ABC.”

    One of the specials the channel has lined up is Pitch Doctor. As the name implies this involves pitch analysis before the match. Geoffrey Boycott on ESPN in English and Waqar Younis on Star Sports in Hindi will anchor it.

    Then there is the innovatively titled Ministry of Cricket. Here, former Australian opener Michael Slater will analyse the strength and weaknesses of the sides. Former Indian spinner Maninder Singh on Star Sports will do the Hindi version Mani Sir Ki Class.

    A trademark special of ESS is the Shaz & Waz lunchtime chat show. For the uninitiated, the special is hosted by former all rounder Ravi Shastri and Wasim Akram. As has been the case in the past, a person voted by the viewers joins them in the studio. In addition with the Fly On The Wall, Gautam Bhimani travels among the crowds getting reactions and snippets from them.

    Players Up Close & Personal profiles the players coming in. What is different here is that caricatures will be used instead of pictures. Gillette will sponsor the Push Clean Facts segment. This will give viewers facts and trivia about the game coming out of a razor.

    Samsung, Close Up hop on board: The presenting sponsors of the tournament are Samsung and Close up. The associate sponsors: are Pidlite, Castrol, Perfetti, Pepsi, LG, Gillette, Bharti. Verma however added that since the tournament was of such a brief duration only print advertising in key markets would be used.

    One of the contests around the tournament is the Pepsodent Man Of The Match. Here viewers have to SMS MOM followed by the player’s name to a given number. If this coincides with the man of the match, they stand to win prizes. Then there is the Samsung Mobile Super Selector. Viewers can play these on their mobile and win daily prizes and also the series prize.

    Offering an industry perspective on cricket, Nimbus senior VP Sunil Manocha felt that the sponsor visibility for the earlier mentioned Asia Cup was affected as the tournament had not been promoted well by either the tournament’s organisers or by DD and ESS, both of whom had aired the tournament.

    “The interest on cricket rests strongly on marketing and promotional activity used to create hype. That will affect the pull of the sport more than the fact that India cricket is on every month. I don’t think that viewer fatigue will set in soon. As long as the various marketing channels are used properly cricket will continue to attract viewers and as a result advertisers,” says Manocha.

    “It would have been very difficult for ESS to recover the Asia Cup costs incurred through acquiring the broadcast and sponsorship rights. Videocon did not get much mileage from the recently concluded Holland Cup (on Max) as most of the matches were rained out,” he added.

    According to him, both the Natwest Series and the upcoming Champions Trophy on Max will benefit the broadcasters because they come during the media buying season.

  • MAX signs on Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly?

    MAX signs on Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly?

    MUMBAI: Is it a game of “me too” going on in sports broadcasting land? First was cricket “World Cup Network” SET MAX’s announcement that it had signed on cricket legend Kapil Dev as its brand ambassador. Going one better, ESPN Star Sports announced cricket demi-god Sachin Tendulkar as its brand ambassador. The latest, according to reliable industry sources, is that MAX has signed on India’s cricket captain and the “prince of Kolkata” Saurav Ganguly to represent the channel

    When contacted for a response to reports that Saurav had entered into an association with Sony, Rajat Jain, executive V-P & business head, MAX, while not denying the news outright, said: “I have no knowledge at the moment as to the veracity of this information.”

    It is not clear yet in what capacity Saurav could represent MAX as it already has a brand ambassador in Kapil. Still, it could well be that Kapil, a World Cup winning captain and Saurav, the man who the whole country must be praying will hold aloft the coveted trophy in South Africa, next year, will be used to reinforce the message of Sony as the World Cup Network.

    Kapil’s signing has proved a bulls eye hit for Sony, especially as soon after the deal was done, he was declared Wisden’s Indian Cricketer of the Century, pipping both Sachin and batting maestro Sunil Gavaskar in the race for honours. If Saurav is indeed coming aboard, Sony would certainly be hoping the Indian captain leads from the front and inspires his young turks to perform on the field like they did in the recent Natwest Finals at Lords. There is nothing that will jack up viewership and bring ad money rolling in like a winning performance from the Indian cricket team.