How to Watch Cricket World Cup: England vs New Zealand

The men’s Cricket World Cup (CWC19) is almost over, and here at Tech Advisor we’ve had the time of our lives. Partly because we’ve been able to watch even more cricket than usual, and partly because pre-tournament favourites England have actually lived up to expectations – and are in the final!

Getting to the games has not been easy: tickets were snapped up in no time flat, and they’re not cheap either. Which means many fans will instead have to watch the final live on TV or online.

That’s where we come in. In this article we explain how to watch every single game of the Cricket World Cup 2019 live on TV or the internet (jump straight to our ‘how to watch’ section), how to catch highlights after the action’s finished, and how to listen live on the radio. For the big Test series after the cup’s finished, see How to watch England vs Australia cricket live.

The next match is the big one:

• 14 July (10.30am): FINAL: ENGLAND vs New Zealand (Lord’s, London) – Live on Channel 4 (or More4 while the British Grand Prix is on), Sky One, Sky Sports Cricket World Cup and Sky Sports Main Event from 9am

When does the Cricket World Cup take place?

From the opening match on 30 May to the final on 14 July. (Full schedule here.)

How many games are there?

There are 45 games in the Cricket World Cup group stage (in which every team plays every other team), then the two semi-finals and the final, for a total of 48.

That doesn’t appear to include the usual grim third-place playoff you get before most world cup finals, so we guess they’re not doing that.

Which channel will broadcast the Cricket World Cup 2019?

Sky Sports Cricket has the live coverage rights in the UK and Ireland, while Channel 4 has the UK highlights (although there are plenty of other ways to watch highlights, as we’ll explain later). As mentioned above, however, Sky has agreed to share its live coverage with Channel 4 for the final so that more people can watch. We think that’s pretty great.

Here are the channels that will be broadcasting coverage of the Cricket World Cup in other countries:

Afghanistan: Moby Media Group, plus Hotstar.com web streaming Australia: Nine Network, Fox Sports Bangladesh: Bangladesh Television, Gaza TV and Star Sports Canada: Asian Television Network, plus Hotstar.com web streaming Europe (Except UK & Ireland): Hotstar.com web streaming Hong Kong: Star Cricket India: Star Sports, DD Sports, plus Hotstar.com web streaming New Zealand: Sky Sport Pakistan: Ten Sports Pakistan, PTV Sports Singapore: Star Cricket Sri Lanka: Star Sports, Dialog TV, plus Hotstar.com web streaming South Africa: SuperSport US: Willow TV, plus Hotstar.com web streaming

Is the Cricket World Cup 2019 on free to air?

Mostly not, but because England have reached the final, this match alone will be made available on free-to-air television.

As for the rest of the tournament, live radio commentary (on TMS) and post-game highlights (on Channel 4) can be enjoyed for free.

How to watch the Cricket World Cup 2019 in the UK

The final is being broadcast simultaneously on Channel 4, Sky One, Sky Sports Cricket World Cup (the rebranded version of what had been known previously as Sky Sports Cricket) and Sky Sports Main Event. The Channel 4 coverage will be interrupted partway through for the British Grand Prix, at which point coverage will switch temporarily to More4.

Channel 4 and More4 are free-to-air channels that can be accessed via a Freeview box or online.

If you’re a Sky Sports subscriber, you can find Sky One on channel 106 (HD) or 806 (SD), Sky Sports Cricket World Cup on channel 404 and Sky Sports Main Event on channel 402.

Coverage starts at 9am, a full 90 minutes before play starts.

Subscribing to Sky Sports

Existing Sky customers can add all eight Sky Sports channels to their package for £23 per month – or, as part of a limited-time offer to coincide with the Cricket World Cup and the Ashes, you can just add Sky Sports Cricket for £10 a month.

If you’re a Sky newcomer a basic package starts at £22 per month. Sky Sports Cricket then costs an extra £10 on top of that for a selection of sports, or £23 for the lot.

Click here to look into Sky Sports packages.

Sky Q

Those are the prices for Sky’s standard packages, but serious cricket heads may be interested in the firm’s premium Sky Q service, which starts at £13 per month (for the first 18 months – price will increase afterwards) and adds additional features. Have a look at our guide to Sky Q pricing, bundles and features to read about those, or jump straight to the Sky Q website.

How to watch with Now TV

If you don’t want to commit yourself to a Sky contract, Now TV may be a more appealing option. Now TV lets you pay for just one day, week or month of Sky Sports (or other packages), accessible via your browser, TV app or mobile app. The best thing is that Sky is doing another special offer here to coincide with the Cricket World Cup and Ashes this summer.

A Now TV day pass costs £8.99; a week pass is £14.99; and the month pass will normally set you back £33.99 and roll on to the next month unless cancelled. (There’s also a mobile pass for £5.99 per month, but avoid this like the plague – it’s great for football, NBA, rugby and horse racing, but doesn’t include cricket.)

However, until 9 June 2019 you can sign up to a special 4-month pass to cover the entire summer for £100, which works out at just £25 a month.

Click here to view Now TV’s Sky Sports Pass packages.

How to use a VPN

If you happen to be overseas while some or all of the World Cup is happening – it is summer holiday season, after all – then consider a VPN. You can use a VPN to ‘browse from the UK’ and access your usual Sky Sports and Now TV subscriptions from abroad.

NordVPN is our top recommendation, but our best VPN chart rounds up several excellent alternatives that may be a better fit for you in terms of features and pricing.

How to watch free highlights

As mentioned, Channel 4 has the rights to show highlights in the UK and will broadcast these on the evening of each match, likely around midnight – you get around an hour per day, regardless of whether one or two matches were played, but it’s still by far the most in-depth highlights package available for free. You can catch up with any episodes you’ve missed on Channel 4’s website.

However, there are plenty of alternative ways of watching shorter and/or earlier highlights.

YouTube is always a good bet: the ICC YouTube page has shortish highlights (around 5 minutes) of each World Cup match. There will be unofficial highlights packages too if you’re prepared to search through all the cricket spam on YouTube. (We link to YouTube highlights of each completed match in the schedule section.)

The official Cricket World Cup website has a video section with highlights of England vs South Africa and other games.

Finally, Twitter is an excellent source of brief highlights in almost real time. We follow four main accounts for this – England Cricket, Sky Sports Cricket, Wisden and Cricingif – but bear in mind that the TV rights vary and you may need to adapt on the fly. Check the Cricket World Cup Twitter feed, too.

How to listen to the Cricket World Cup on radio

Live TV coverage is behind a paywall but radio coverage, as ever, is the saviour of broke cricket fans keen to hear the latest news. Radio commentary comes courtesy of the BBC’s Test Match Special service, which is available online and on digital via BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra.

Check out the full radio schedule here.

Cricket World Cup 2019 schedule

(England games highlighted with capitals. All times in local UK time, ie BST. YouTube links to highlights after completed matches.)

• 30 May (10.30am): ENGLAND vs South Africa (The Oval, London). England won by 104 runs
• 31 May (10.30am): West Indies vs Pakistan (Nottingham). West Indies won by 7 wickets
• 1 June (10.30am): New Zealand vs Sri Lanka (Cardiff). New Zealand won by 10 wickets
• 1 June (1.30pm): Afghanistan vs Australia (Bristol). Australia won by 7 wickets
• 2 June (10.30am): South Africa vs Bangladesh (The Oval, London). Bangladesh won by 21 runs
• 3 June (10.30am): ENGLAND vs Pakistan (Nottingham). Pakistan won by 14 runs
• 4 June (10.30am): Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka (Cardiff). Sri Lanka won by 34 runs (DLS)
• 5 June (10.30am): South Africa vs India (Southampton). India won by 6 wickets
• 5 June (1.30pm): Bangladesh vs New Zealand (The Oval, London). New Zealand won by 2 wickets
• 6 June (10.30am): Australia vs West Indies (Nottingham). Australia won by 15 runs
• 7 June (10.30am): Pakistan vs Sri Lanka (Bristol). No result (rained off)
• 8 June (10.30am): ENGLAND vs Bangladesh (Cardiff). England won by 106 runs
• 8 June (1.30pm): Afghanistan vs New Zealand (Taunton). New Zealand won by 7 wickets
• 9 June (10.30am): India vs Australia (The Oval, London). India won by 36 runs
• 10 June (10.30pm): South Africa vs West Indies (Southampton). No result (rained off)
• 11 June (10.30am): Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka (Bristol). No result (rained off)
• 12 June (10.30am): Australia vs Pakistan (Taunton). Australia won by 41 runs
• 13 June (10.30am): India vs New Zealand (Nottingham). No result (rained off)
• 14 June (10.30am): ENGLAND vs West Indies (Southampton). England won by 8 wickets
• 15 June (10.30am): Sri Lanka vs Australia (The Oval, London). Australia won by 87 runs
• 15 June (1.30pm): South Africa vs Afghanistan (Cardiff). South Africa won by 9 wickets
• 16 June (10.30am): India vs Pakistan (Manchester). India won by 89 runs (DLS)
• 17 June (10.30am): West Indies vs Bangladesh (Taunton). Bangladesh won by 7 wickets
• 18 June (10.30am): ENGLAND vs Afghanistan (Manchester). England won by 150 runs
• 19 June (10.30am): New Zealand vs South Africa (Birmingham). New Zealand won by 4 wickets
• 20 June (10.30am): Australia vs Bangladesh (Nottingham). Australia won by 48 runs
• 21 June (10.30am): ENGLAND vs Sri Lanka (Leeds). Sri Lanka won by 20 runs
• 22 June (10.30am): India vs Afghanistan (Southampton). India won by 11 runs
• 22 June (1.30pm): West Indies vs New Zealand (Manchester). New Zealand won by 5 runs
• 23 June (10.30am): Pakistan vs South Africa (Lord’s, London). Pakistan won by 49 runs
• 24 June (10.30am): Bangladesh vs Afghanistan (Southampton). Bangladesh won by 62 runs
• 25 June (10.30am): ENGLAND vs Australia (Lord’s, London). Australia won by 64 runs
• 26 June (10.30am): New Zealand vs Pakistan (Birmingham). Pakistan won by 6 wickets
• 27 June (10.30am): West Indies vs India (Manchester). India won by 125 runs
• 28 June (10.30am): Sri Lanka vs South Africa (Chester-le-Street). South Africa won by 9 wickets
• 29 June (10.30am): Pakistan vs Afghanistan (Leeds). Pakistan won by 3 wickets
• 29 June (1.30pm): New Zealand vs Australia (Lord’s, London). Australia won by 86 runs
• 30 June (10.30am): ENGLAND vs India (Birmingham). England won by 31 runs
• 1 July (10.30am): Sri Lanka vs West Indies (Chester-le-Street). Sri Lanka won by 23 runs
• 2 July (10.30am): Bangladesh vs India (Birmingham). India won by 28 runs
• 3 July (10.30am): ENGLAND vs New Zealand (Chester-le-Street). England won by 119 runs
• 4 July (10.30am): Afghanistan vs West Indies (Leeds). West Indies won by 23 runs
• 5 July (10.30am): Pakistan vs Bangladesh (Lord’s, London). Pakistan won by 94 runs
• 6 July (10.30am): Sri Lanka vs India (Leeds). India won by 7 wickets
• 6 July (1.30pm): Australia vs South Africa (Manchester). South Africa won by 10 runs
• 9 July (10.30am): Semi-final 1 (India vs New Zealand, Manchester). New Zealand won by 18 runs
• 11 July (10.30am): Semi-final 2 (Australia vs ENGLAND, Birmingham). England won by 8 wickets
• 14 July (10.30am): FINAL: ENGLAND vs New Zealand (Lord’s, London). Match tied (England won the Super Over on boundary count!)