Three fixtures in Birmingham Bears’ 2017 NatWest T20 Blast campaign will be televised live on Sky Sports as part of the broadcasters biggest summer of live cricket.

Sky Sports will broadcast more hours of cricket than ever before this summer, including live coverage of England’s internationals, the ICC Champions Trophy, the ICC Women’s World Cup, NatWest T20 Blast and more.

As part of the programme, Birmingham Bears opening home game against Notts Outlaws on Saturday 8 July, the visit to reigning champions Northamptonshire Steelbacks on Tuesday 1 August and the local derby against Worcestershire Rapids on Friday 4 August will all be broadcast live.

Bryan Henderson, Sky Sports Head of Cricket, commented: “There is so much to look forward to this year, with more hours of cricket than ever before on Sky Sports. England will want to return to the top of the Test rankings under new captain Joe Root, the ICC Champions Trophy is up for grabs on home soil, and England’s women have the World Cup to play for. It is going to be a long, fascinating summer on Sky Sports.”

Cricket is part of a huge summer of sport on Sky Sports, which includes exclusively live coverage of the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand, golf’s Majors including The Open, US Open and Women’s British Open, F1 in ultra-high definition and much more.

Non-subscribers of Sky Sports can also watch the action without a contract though online TV streaming service NOW TV. With a Sky Sports Day Pass for £6.99 or Sky Sports Week Pass for £10.99, viewers can enjoy access to all seven Sky Sports channels on TV with a NOW TV Box, on the web or via a range of devices.