'Boof' and 3 pitch new cricket show

This summer, cricket fans on 3 can watch not only live matches on their mobile phones but also a daily cricket show hosted by Darren "Boof" Lehmann.

At the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), 3 announced the addition of its first in-house mobile TV program to its Cricket TV channel. Hosted by ex-Australian cricketer Darren Lehmann and model-turned-presenter Ally Pinnock, The Pitch is a 20-minute show which will air on match days during this summer.

At the press conference Lehmann said that The Pitch will feature interviews with players, as well as highlights from the day's play, profiles on up-and-coming Australian players and other segments. We were shown some teaser clips for the show and while it seemed quite parochial, it at least looks to be an improvement on Channel Nine's rather dire Cricket Show which airs during the lunch break.

Boof hams it up with Australian cricketers Stuart Clark and Brett Lee (top); The Pitch hosts Ally Pinnock and Darren Lehmann (bottom)
Photo credit: Derek Fung

This is the third year that cricket nuts can sate their need for the sound of leather on willow on their 3 mobiles. The 3 Web site offers a number of subscription packages, including a AU$4 monthly pass and AU$1 daily pass to the Cricket TV channel. According to 3, Cricket TV was used one million times last summer. Subscribers from previous years may be disappointed to know that features like SMS alerts at the fall of a wicket are now part of the AU$8 per month Essentials Pack.

Cricket TV will begin airing on 25 October before this summer's international cricket season kicks off. The first match of the two test series against Sri Lanka begins at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday, 8 November. There's also a four match test series against India beginning on Boxing Day in Melbourne. And in between there are one-day matches against New Zealand, with the summer rounded out by the marathon one-day triangular series with Sri Lanka and India.