Sky Sports to show Lancashire v Surrey from opening round of new County Championship season

The move comes after Sky reportedly lost the UK broadcast rights for the Indian Premier League to DAZN and ITV

Lancashire and Surrey's eye-catching opening game of the new County Championship season will be shown on Sky Sports.

The broadcaster will carry all four days of the fixture on Sky Sports Cricket, as last year's top two in Division One go head-to-head in a fascinating curtain-raiser to the new campaign from April 6.

Sky have more space to fill in their cricket schedule through April and May than in recent seasons, with the Indian Premier League rights which they previously held reportedly set to be picked up by DAZN for 2023. 

And the clash between the Three Feathers and the Red Rose could be just the first Championship match on the channel during the first seven weeks of the campaign.

^{Sky focuses its domestic cricket offering on the T20 Blast and The Hundred (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)}

In fact, there could be as many as three Championship matches carried by the broadcaster in that period.

Sky are expected to use the Lancashire stream as the basis of their coverage of the opening-round fixture, while providing commentators to the broadcast to lend it more variety. 

The meeting between Surrey and Middlesex at The Oval from May 11 is expected to get the full outside broadcast treatment. 

County Championship cricket has rarely been showcased on Sky in recent years, for various reasons. 

It is generally the least popular offering from the men's domestic calendar in terms of live audience, with the T20 Blast and The Hundred attracting considerably better viewing figures, while Sky are only contracted to show one live Championship match on their channels each season.