How to Watch England Cricket Abroad in 2026
England's home cricket summer is one of the longest-running fixtures in the sporting calendar — Test series, white-ball internationals and the domestic game stretching right across the warmer months.
The 2026 season is a big one: England won the T20Is against India 4–0 and took the ODI series 2–1, and The Hundred has just finished (21 July–16 August). The summer runs on from there — Pakistan Tests from 19 August, Sri Lanka's white-ball series and England Women's one-day internationals against Ireland in September — live cricket right through to the autumn.
Being overseas for part of it — a holiday, a work posting or a permanent move abroad — needn't put the cricket out of reach. This guide walks through how to keep up with the England summer wherever you happen to be.
Where England Cricket Is Shown in the UK
For UK viewers, the cricket is split across a few broadcasters:
- Sky Sports — the home of England's summer cricket, showing every ball of the home international and domestic season live — via the Sky Go app if you subscribe to Sky, or a NOW membership without a full Sky package
- Channel 5 — a small free-to-air live selection: four England home T20Is each summer (two men's, two women's), simulcast with Sky. The ODIs and the Tests aren't part of it
- BBC — The Hundred and highlights on BBC television and BBC iPlayer. There are no live England internationals on BBC television — but the BBC holds exclusive live ball-by-ball commentary of every England home Test, ODI and IT20 on Test Match Special, via BBC Radio and BBC Sounds — every bit as geo-blocked, and every bit as unblockable
So most of the home summer — the Test series, the white-ball games, the bulk of the season — lives on Sky Sports and NOW, with a smaller free-to-air selection on Channel 5 and The Hundred on the BBC. England's overseas tours are a different deal entirely: they're sold by the host board, not by the England and Wales Cricket Board, so they don't all land in the same place.
India's home series are on TNT Sports via HBO Max. England's own winter is less settled: Australia in November, South Africa over Christmas, then Melbourne in March for a one-off 150th Anniversary Test — and those television rights move from year to year. Check where your winter's cricket has actually landed before you buy a subscription for it.
The radio is a different story, and a better one. Test Match Special is going to Australia. The BBC holds UK audio rights to England's tour, so the white-ball series in November is on BBC Radio and BBC Sounds — no subscription, no television deal required. Check the schedule for which matches are covered.
It's geo-blocked like everything else the BBC does, which means it's exactly the sort of thing a UK residential IP puts back within reach. Whichever way the television rights fall, one router covers every route.
Why You Can't Just Watch It Abroad
The catch is that Sky Sports, NOW, Channel 5 and BBC iPlayer are all geo-restricted to the UK. The moment you're abroad, they detect your location and the coverage stops — whether you're a paying Sky Go or NOW subscriber or just trying to catch a game on Channel 5 or iPlayer.
Most people reach for a VPN first, yet the well-known VPN apps tend to get shut out by UK streaming platforms — they route through shared data-centre IP addresses that broadcasters have learned to spot and block. There's more detail in our guide on why ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark stop working on UK streaming.
The Reliable Way to Watch England Cricket Abroad
What does hold up is a VPN router built around a UK residential IP address — an everyday home-broadband address, the sort millions of British households sit behind. To Sky, NOW, Channel 5 and the BBC, your connection simply looks like a viewer at home in the UK, so you're far less likely to be blocked.
Since it operates at router level, every device you connect runs through it — a smart TV, an Apple TV, a Firestick or any streaming box. The cricket plays through the very apps you'd open at home, on the television, at full quality.
A day of Test cricket runs long, so a real television setup beats hunching over a laptop — and the whole household can share the session rather than crowding round one phone. It suits anyone keeping up with England's summer from across Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, the Gulf and further afield.
We Ship a Complete Setup Worldwide
Here at Stream UK TV Abroad, we ship pre-configured SmartHub VPN routers worldwide, set up to work straight out of the box. Plug the router into your internet abroad, connect your TV or streaming device, and open Sky Sports, NOW or BBC iPlayer as you would at home.
It's the very kit our customers rely on for their wider UK viewing, so one router handles the cricket and everything else together. If you already watch Sky abroad, our guide on how to watch Sky Stream abroad covers that side of the setup in more detail.
Get Set Up Before the Pakistan Tests
England have wrapped up the white-ball series against India, but the summer is far from over — it runs all the way to the end of September.
Pakistan's three Tests start at Headingley on 19 August and run through to Edgbaston on 13 September, then Sri Lanka's T20Is and ODIs carry on to 27 September — nearly six weeks of cricket, and a runway UPS Express comfortably makes.
If a big-name VPN has just left you looking at a block screen, there's still time to be set up for the Tests and the rest of the season within days.
For international orders we generally use UPS Express, keeping delivery and customs clearance as fast and hassle-free as possible; UK orders ship with DPD, usually next-day after dispatch (a few remote areas, like the north of Scotland, can take a little longer).
Worth knowing which box you need: the Pakistan Tests are on Sky Sports, so you'll want a NOW pass to reach them — and of the two Freely boxes we ship, it's the Netgem PLEIO that runs the NOW app.
The free-to-air route is less fussy: the BBC had 16 live Hundred matches on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, and iPlayer works on the PLEIO and the Manhattan Aero alike. Channel 5 runs on both boxes too — its four live England home T20Is each summer are separate from The Hundred.
Following the rest of the summer of sport too? Once the new season starts, see our guide to the Premier League abroad (from 21 August).
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I watch England cricket abroad?
Wherever you are, through the same UK services you would use at home — but they are geo-blocked, so you need a UK connection. England's home internationals and the domestic season are on Sky Sports (via Sky Go or a NOW pass), with a small free-to-air selection on Channel 5 and The Hundred on the BBC.
Is England cricket on free-to-air TV?
Only a little. Channel 5 shows four England home T20Is each summer, simulcast with Sky, and the BBC has The Hundred plus highlights — but the Test series and the one-day internationals are on Sky Sports and NOW. All of it is UK-only.
Can I listen to Test Match Special abroad?
Yes, with a UK connection. The BBC holds exclusive live ball-by-ball commentary of every England home Test, ODI and IT20 on Test Match Special, carried on BBC Radio and BBC Sounds and nowhere else, with no subscription. It is geo-blocked like everything else, so a UK residential IP puts it back within reach.
How do I watch the cricket without a Sky subscription?
A NOW membership carries Sky Sports on its own, without a full Sky package — the simplest route to the Test series and the white-ball games. Once your router is set up, a full session goes on the television rather than a phone, and the whole household can watch together.
Final Thoughts
England's home summer of cricket is made for keeping up with day by day — and a spell overseas needn't mean missing out. The bulk of the cricket sits on Sky Sports and NOW, with a small live selection on Channel 5 and The Hundred plus highlights on the BBC — and all of it is UK-only once you leave the country.
A VPN router carrying a UK residential IP is the steadiest way to reach the lot from wherever you are, and it works best alongside a proper television-based setup. Sort it out in good time and the summer goes on watching the cricket rather than fixing the connection.
At Stream UK TV Abroad, our pre-configured routers are built to make precisely that straightforward — sent out worldwide, and fast enough to catch what's left of the season.
