Former England star Flintoff - who scored over 7,000 runs and took 400 wickets for his country - to be presenter for Sky Sports during The Hundred; Kevin Pietersen, Tammy Beaumont, Dinesh Karthik, Zainab Abbas, Stuart Broad, Jacqueline Shepherd, Daren Sammy and more also join Sky team
Tuesday 20 July 2021 17:57, UK
Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Stuart Broad, Tammy Beaumont and Dinesh Karthik will be among the Sky Sports broadcast team for the inaugural edition of The Hundred.
Former England star Flintoff will be one of Sky Sports' presenters during the new 100-ball tournament, which launches with a women's game between Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals at The Kia Oval on Wednesday, July 21, live on Sky Sports' dedicated channel, Sky Sports The Hundred.
Flintoff played 227 times for England in his career, scoring over 7,000 runs, taking 400 wickets and playing a huge role in the team's Ashes series wins over Australia in 2005 and 2009.
Flintoff's former England team-mate Pietersen, current England bowler Broad, England Women international Beaumont - who will also play for London Spirit during the tournament - and India's Karthik are also part of a star-studded line-up.
They will work alongside Pakistan legend Wasim Akram, Sri Lanka superstar Kumar Sangakkara, West Indies' two-time T20 World Cup-winning captain Daren Sammy, and former Australia Women star Mel Jones.
Sky Sports regulars such as Nasser Hussain, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Rob Key, David Lloyd, Michael Atherton and Mark Butcher will also be part of the team.
Each of the 68 games - 34 men and 34 women - will be shown live on Sky Sports The Hundred as well as on Sky Sports Mix, while all women's matches and a significant number of men's games will be streamed live on the Sky Cricket YouTube channel.
"It's a really exciting team - I'm going to learn so much from being a part of it - and hopefully we're going to get to watch some brilliant cricket."
Broad spoke to Sky Sports about his excitement at being part of the broadcasting team for the tournament: "We've got the best players in the world playing on some of the best cricket grounds in the world. What's not to love?" he said.
"And off the field, there's some of the most recognisable names in cricket talking about the game.
"The Hundred is all about getting new boys and girls playing the game that we already love; we can about it with a lot of fun, excitement and give some little insights but, as we always say, the talking is done on the field - and it's exciting that we've got so many brilliant players to showcase the game."
Sky Sports The Hundred will take over the existing Sky Sports Cricket channel for the duration of the competition, which will hold its men's and women's finals at Lord's on Saturday, August 21.
Kass Naidoo, Zainab Abbas and Jacqueline Shepherd will join Flintoff as Sky Sports presenters for a tournament that the England and Wales Cricket Board hopes will bring new fans to the sport.
The Hundred will offer equal prize money for the men's and women's tournament and will be the first major UK team sporting competition in history to launch with a standalone women's fixture.
After the opening two matches - the men's competition starts on July 22 with Invincibles taking on Originals - the rest of the schedule will see men's and women's double headers staged on the same day, with the ambition of elevating women's cricket.
Bryan Henderson, head of Sky Sports Cricket, said: "We are so excited to help launch this fantastic new tournament this summer. It's going to be an incredible standard of cricket played at some of the best grounds in the world and everyone's invited.
"Hopefully the competition will inspire many girls and boys to pick up a bat and ball. We've put together an amazing line up of presenters and commentators; there's a completely fresh graphics look and some exciting new broadcast technology. We very much hope you enjoy the coverage."
Watch The Hundred live on Sky Sports Cricket this summer. Non-Sky subscribers can follow all the action via the Sky Sports app, Sky Sports News and skysports.com.
