How to Watch Cricket Live in Australia in 2026

If you've ever sat down to watch cricket live in Australia and ended up more confused than entertained, you are not alone. The broadcast rights landscape for Australian cricket is genuinely one of the more tangled setups in sport — with Tests on free-to-air, ODIs hiding on pay-TV, the Big Bash split across multiple platforms, ICC events on a completely separate streaming service, and an all-in-one option that most people have never heard of. This guide untangles all of it: every realistic way to watch cricket in Australia in 2026, what each one costs in real Australian dollars, and the honest recommendation from a team that has spent a lot of time staring at scoreboards and streaming interfaces.

Whether you want to catch every Test ball-by-ball in 4K on the big screen, stream the Big Bash on your phone from the backyard, or bundle your entire sport and entertainment bill into one cheap subscription — there is an option that fits. Let's walk through all of them.

Ways to watch cricket in 2026

Cricket Australia's broadcast rights were locked in under a landmark deal worth approximately $1.5 billion over seven years, running from the 2024-25 season through to the end of the 2030-31 Australian summer. That deal set the viewing landscape for the rest of the decade. The two domestic broadcast partners are:

• Seven Network / 7plus — free-to-air and streaming, covering Tests and a large slice of the Big Bash
• Foxtel Group (Fox Cricket via Foxtel and Kayo Sports) — pay-TV and streaming, carrying literally everything including all the formats Seven does not show

There is also a third player for international tournaments: Amazon Prime Video, which holds exclusive Australian rights to ICC events through 2027 — completely separately from the Seven/Foxtel deal. And then there is the option most cricket fans haven't considered: IPTV, which carries all the same Fox Cricket and Seven feeds in one subscription at a fraction of the price.

Here is what each option actually covers, what it misses, and what it costs.

Free cricket on Seven & 7plus

The genuinely great news for cricket fans is that a large chunk of the Australian summer is completely free. Seven's free-to-air coverage under the broadcast deal is more generous than almost any other sport in Australia. Here is exactly what you get for nothing:

What Seven and 7plus actually show

• All men's home Test matches — every single Test played in Australia, ball-by-ball, live and free. This includes the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and the New Year Test in Sydney, the two biggest cricket events on the Australian calendar.
• All women's internationals— every women's Test, ODI and T20I played in Australia is live on Seven, making it one of the most comprehensive free-to-air women's sport packages in the country.
• 34 of the 44 BBL games — including all finals. The remaining 10 Big Bash games per season are exclusive to Foxtel and Kayo.
• Most WBBL (Women's Big Bash) games— the majority of the women's T20 competition is also on Seven.

How to stream 7plus cricket on any device

The 7plus app is available on iOS, Android, Samsung and LG smart TVs, Apple TV, Chromecast, and Amazon Fire TV devices. It is free, ad-supported, and requires only a free account to stream. The cricket coverage is genuinely solid — commentary, on-screen scorecard, replays — and for Test cricket in particular it is hard to argue with free. One note on picture quality: Seven broadcasts in HD but not 4K. If you are specifically chasing 4K cricket, you will need Kayo Premium or a Foxtel iQ4/iQ5 box.

The critical thing Seven does NOT show

Here is the detail that catches most fans off-guard and the single most important fact in this entire guide: Seven does not show men's ODIs or T20Is.Not a handful of them. Not the ones without a big match scheduled. None of them. Men's bilateral One-Day Internationals and T20 Internationals played in Australia are exclusively on Foxtel and Kayo. Full stop.

This matters a lot when England is touring for a white-ball series, or when India is playing a summer T20I leg, or during any of the short-form bilaterals that have become as popular as Tests for a large portion of the cricket-watching public. If you rely solely on 7plus, you will miss all of those.

Every ball: Kayo & Foxtel

Foxtel Group's Fox Cricket channel is the home of complete Australian cricket coverage. Through the Foxtel and Kayo platforms, it carries every format — Tests, ODIs, T20Is, all 44 BBL games, the WBBL, and domestic competitions. If a cricket ball is bowled in Australia during the summer, Fox Cricket is showing it.

Kayo Sports: the streaming-first approach

Kayo Sports is the most accessible entry point into complete cricket coverage. No Foxtel box required, no installation appointment, no annual contract. Sign up online, download the app, and you are watching Fox Cricket in a few minutes. Kayo also simulcasts the Seven broadcast when Tests are on, so you have the choice of commentary teams in the one app.

Kayo pricing in 2026

After the February 2026 pricing update, Kayo's two tiers are:

• Kayo Standard — $29.99/month: HD (1080p), one simultaneous stream. Covers every format of cricket in Australia — Tests, ODIs, T20Is, all 44 BBL games. Good for individuals.
• Kayo Premium — $45.99/month: 4K UHD on compatible devices, two simultaneous streams. The 4K cricket experience on a large TV is genuinely excellent — the green of the outfield, the shimmer of a hot SCG afternoon, the detail on a spinning ball — it is proper big-screen stuff. Recommended for households or anyone with a 4K set.

Kayo is sport only. There are no movies, no entertainment channels, no documentary series beyond the sports content library. If you want a subscription that covers sport and entertainment, you are looking at maintaining a separate bill for everything else — which is where the value comparison with a good IPTV plan becomes very interesting.

Foxtel: the full pay-TV option

Foxtel via an iQ4 or iQ5 set-top box is the traditional pay-TV path — the most fully-featured option and the most expensive. A base Foxtel package starts at roughly $78/month; adding the Sports pack brings it to approximately $108/month month-to-month (cheaper on a 12-month contract). You get Fox Cricket, all other Fox Sports channels, movies, entertainment, news — the full pay-TV experience in a proper linear TV guide.

The iQ box supports 4K on compatible hardware and has a slick, broadcaster-quality interface. For households that are deeply embedded in the Foxtel ecosystem or want that linear TV experience — Foxtel delivers. For most people who want cricket specifically, though, the premium is hard to justify when Kayo covers the same cricket at a fraction of the cost.

Does Foxtel or Kayo show ICC events?

This is a very common question, and the answer is no — neither Foxtel nor Kayo carries ICC events including the ICC T20 World Cup or 50-over World Cups in Australia. Those rights sit with Amazon Prime Video entirely separately. We cover this in detail in the ICC section below.

Where the ODIs and T20Is hide

It is worth dwelling on this a bit longer because it genuinely catches fans out every summer without fail. When Australia hosts a T20I or ODI series — England, India, Pakistan, the West Indies, whoever — and you go to 7plus expecting to find it, it will not be there. Seven's deal with Cricket Australia covers Test cricket and the BBL for free-to-air audiences. Men's white-ball bilateral cricket is considered premium content, and it sits behind the Foxtel/Kayo paywall.

What this means in practice

For the upcoming 2026-27 Australian summer, the scheduled England white-ball tour — three ODIs and five T20Is in November-December 2026 — will be on Fox Cricket only. Not a single one of those eight matches will be available free on Seven. Same story for any T20I series that comes out of the Bangladesh or New Zealand tours if they include white-ball legs. If your picture of a cricket summer includes white-ball internationals alongside the Tests, you need a paid option.

The three practical choices for ODI and T20I coverage are:

• Kayo Standard or Premium — $29.99 or $45.99/mth, sport only
• Foxtel with the Sports package — from ~$108/mth, full pay-TV
• An IPTV plan carrying Fox Cricket — from $5.83–$15/mth, cricket plus everything else

The all-in-one IPTV option

This is the option that surprises people when they see the numbers. A quality IPTV Australia plan carries every format of Australian cricket — Tests on Seven, ODIs and T20Is on Fox Cricket, all 44 BBL games — in a single subscription. And not just cricket: the same plan gives you AFL on Fox Footy and Seven, NRL on Fox League, the Premier League, NBA, international rugby, F1, movies, TV shows and thousands of international channels. All of it. The price starts from roughly $5.83–$15 per month AUD with no lock-in contract and no credit card required to start a free 24-hour trial.

To put that in context: Kayo Standard for cricket alone is $29.99/month. A full Foxtel sport package is around $108/month. An IPTV plan covers more content than either of those for a fraction of the cost. The reason more people aren't already doing it is mostly that they don't know it exists, or they have questions about how it all works legally — and we have a thorough guide to whether IPTV is legal in Australia that addresses exactly that.

What cricket you actually get on IPTV

With IPTV Australia's channel list, cricket coverage includes:

• Fox Cricket live — every bilateral series, every Test, every ODI, every T20I played in Australia, all 44 BBL games
• Seven and 7mate — the free-to-air broadcast feed for Tests and the BBL, included in the same plan. You can watch in whichever commentary you prefer without switching apps.
• Fox Cricket replays and highlights — for games you missed or want to rewatch
• Other Fox Sports channels — Fox Sports 1, 2 and 3 for non-cricket sport alongside the cricket schedule

Beyond cricket, that same subscription includes AFL on Fox Footy, NRL on Fox League, the Premier League, and thousands of entertainment channels. If you are currently paying for Kayo and a separate entertainment streaming service, an IPTV plan consolidates everything into one considerably cheaper bill. Our separate guide on IPTV vs Foxtel & Kayo has the full side-by-side if you want every detail.

Setting up IPTV for cricket viewing

Getting set up is straightforward. The most popular device for IPTV in Australia is an Amazon Fire TV Stick — our Firestick setup guide walks through the whole process in under ten minutes. The IPTV Smarters Pro app (available on the Amazon Appstore) is the easiest player to get running, and once it is configured with your credentials it works exactly like any other streaming app: open, find Fox Cricket or Seven, press play.

World Cups and ICC events

This is probably the biggest trap for Australian cricket fans in 2026, and it is worth being very direct about it: ICC events — including the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 and 50-over World Cups — are exclusive to Amazon Prime Video in Australia through 2027. They are not on Seven. They are not on Foxtel. They are not on Kayo. You need a separate Amazon Prime subscription to watch them live.

Why ICC events are on Amazon and not Foxtel/Kayo

Cricket Australia's $1.5 billion deal with Seven and Foxtel covers Australian domestic cricket — the home series, the bilateral tours, the BBL. The ICC events (the T20 World Cup, the ODI World Cup, the World Test Championship Final and other ICC-run tournaments) are held under completely separate broadcast rights controlled by the ICC, not Cricket Australia. Amazon won those Australian broadcast rights in a separate deal, and they hold them through 2027.

This means watching, say, Australia vs England in a T20 World Cup semi-final requires a different subscription to the one you use for watching Australia vs England in a bilateral T20I series at home. It is a frustrating split in the viewing experience, but it is the reality for Australian cricket fans until at least the end of 2027 when those rights come back to the market.

What an Amazon Prime subscription costs

Amazon Prime in Australia is currently around $9.99/month or $89/year, which also includes Prime delivery, Prime Music, and access to Prime Video's full library of films and series. For cricket fans, it is worth factoring this into the total streaming bill when ICC events are running. During the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, a complete cricket budget for an Australian fan who wants everything — domestic cricket via Kayo, ICC events via Prime — would be Kayo Standard ($29.99) plus Prime ($9.99) = roughly $40/month. Or the IPTV approach for cricket alongside an Amazon Prime subscription — considerably cheaper overall.

The 2026-27 summer of cricket

The 2026-27 Australian cricket season is shaping up to be one of the most compelling in recent memory. Here is the scheduled programme — note that exact dates are subject to Cricket Australia confirmation and may shift closer to the season.

Bangladesh tour — August 2026

Bangladesh are scheduled to tour Australia for a two-Test series in August 2026, marking an early start to the summer before the main program kicks off. Both Tests will be live on Seven and Fox Cricket. This is a good chance to get your streaming setup sorted before the bigger series arrive.

England white-ball tour — November–December 2026

England's white-ball tour is scheduled to bring three ODIs and five T20 Internationals to Australia in November and December 2026. As covered above, all eight of these matches will be exclusive to Fox Cricket — not on Seven. If you are an England-Australia white-ball fan and you do not currently have a Kayo subscription or IPTV plan, this is the series to organise your setup around.

New Zealand — four-Test series, December 2026–January 2027

New Zealand's four-Test series against Australia is the centrepiece of the 2026-27 summer. It includes the Boxing Day Test at the MCG (26 December) and the New Year Test at the SCG (3 January) — the two most iconic fixtures on the Australian cricket calendar. All four Tests will be live on Seven and Fox Cricket.

Boxing Day and New Year Tests: a planning note

The Boxing Day Test is consistently one of Australia's biggest sporting occasions — expect peak streaming demand on both 7plus and Kayo on 26 December and the days that follow. If you are planning to watch on IPTV or Kayo, a wired ethernet connection to your streaming device (rather than Wi-Fi) makes a noticeable difference during peak events when neighbourhood internet usage spikes.

150th-anniversary Test — March 2027

A standalone 150th-anniversary Test match is scheduled for March 2027 — the exact opponent and venue to be confirmed, but set to mark a significant milestone in Australian cricket history. It will be live on Seven and Fox Cricket.

Beyond the home schedule, the Big Bash League will run its usual December–February window with 44 games across the eight teams — 34 on Seven free-to-air, 10 exclusive to Foxtel and Kayo.

Cost comparison

Here is the honest side-by-side. All prices are in Australian dollars per month as of June 2026. “ODIs/T20Is” means men's bilateral internationals played in Australia.

A couple of things jump out of that table. First, Seven is the obvious starting point for any casual Test fan — the coverage is comprehensive and genuinely free. Second, Kayo Standard is a clean, no-fuss option for anyone who wants the full picture without a Foxtel contract. Third, the IPTV option is a dramatically different value proposition for viewers who want everything in one place — cricket plus AFL, NRL, the Premier League, movies and entertainment — without the combined cost of Kayo plus a separate entertainment streaming service.

And fourth: remember that Amazon Prime Video is always an additional cost if you want ICC events. Budget for it during World Cup years.

Our honest pick

Here is the genuinely honest, no-spin recommendation — the same one we would give to a mate who loves the cricket and wants to get it sorted without overpaying.

If you mainly watch Tests: start with 7plus

If your cricket summer is primarily the home Tests — the Boxing Day classic, the New Year Sydney Test, the Ashes whenever it comes around — Seven and 7plus will cover you completely. Every home Test, every ball, for free. The ad breaks are more frequent than on a paid service, but the coverage quality is excellent and the app works well on most devices. For a dedicated Test fan who isn't fussed about white-ball cricket, free is hard to argue against.

If you want every format of cricket: Kayo Standard

If you want Tests and ODIs and T20Is and all 44 BBL games without a Foxtel contract, Kayo Standard at $29.99/month is the cleanest mainstream option. The app is smooth, the commentary is the full Fox Cricket production, and you can cancel any month. The only trade-off is that it is sport only — you will still need a separate bill for movies and TV shows.

If 4K is important to you — and it really is a significant step up for Test cricket on a 4K TV — Kayo Premium at $45.99/month is the upgrade path. The picture quality during a sun-drenched Test in Perth or a floodlit BBL night game is exceptional.

If you want everything in one place: IPTV Australia

If you currently subscribe to Kayo for the cricket plus something like Netflix or Disney+ for the rest of your viewing, you are probably paying $55–$90 per month across two services. A quality IPTV Australia plan replaces both. You get every ball of cricket on Fox Cricket — Tests, ODIs, T20Is, the full BBL — plus Seven and 7mate, AFL, NRL, the EPL, and thousands of entertainment and international channels, all in a single subscription from $5.83–$15/month AUD, no lock-in, no commitment.

Check the full channel list, browse the AUD pricing, or — the best way to judge any streaming service — start a free 24-hour trial and watch the next live cricket match yourself before you spend a cent. We think both the picture quality and the channel range will surprise you.

Want to see how the options compare for other sports? Our guide to watching AFL live in Australia uses the same framework, and our NRL without Foxtel guide is worth a read if rugby league is also on your summer schedule. And if you want the full honest breakdown of the IPTV option versus the mainstream paid services, our IPTV vs Foxtel & Kayo comparison has every detail.

Whichever option you go with — enjoy the cricket. With the Boxing Day Test, the New Year Test, a big England white-ball tour, and Bangladesh and New Zealand in town across the 2026-27 summer, there is plenty of it to look forward to. Just make sure you have the right subscription sorted before the toss.