Field Plan is here

Sky Sports viewers will know exactly where fielders are standing during this summer's cricket coverage.

An innovative new graphic means Sky Sports viewers will know exactly where fielders are standing during this summer's cricket coverage. 'Field Plan' made its Sky Sports debut during the first npower Test match between England and New Zealand at Lord's on Thursday. The graphic will appear throughout Sky Sports' coverage and will illustrate the current position of each member of the fielding team, providing viewers with a unique perspective on the field of play. Paul King, cricket producer for Sky Sports, said: "Field Plan will offer a clear view on where fielders are positioned, not always possible with traditional cameras. "We will easily be able to see the challenge faced by batsmen and the tactics being employed by the opposing captain. It will be a fascinating addition to our coverage." When used, Field Plan will be positioned in the bottom left corner of the screen and will be updated each time fielders move position. Field Plan is the latest in a long list of broadcast innovations that Sky Sports has introduced to its cricket coverage. These include Hot Spot (2007) including high definition (2006), Hi Motion (2006), Ultra Motion (2004), virtual graphics (2001), interactivity (2000), widescreen (1999), stump cameras (1991) and stump microphones (1990). Sky Sports will provide exclusively live ball-by-ball coverage of the England cricket team this summer, including all npower Tests, NatWest One Day Internationals and NatWest international Twenty20 matches against New Zealand and South Africa. Sky Sports' live cricket this summer also includes a record number of matches from the four main domestic competitions including each county at least three times. Sky Sports News is broadcasting daily reports and updates throughout the summer, together with live ball-by-ball commentary, match reports and previews plus guest columns on skysports.com.