The production company reveals its second big cricket win of the week.
Whisper has been appointed by Spark Sport to produce all New Zealand Cricket matches played in New Zealand over the next six summers.
The production company will produce live coverage of all home Blackcaps and White Ferns Internationals and Super Smash matches on Spark Sport. It will also produce selected Twenty20 Internationals and Super Smash matches for free-to-air on TVNZ.
Head of Spark Sport, Jeff Latch, said: “Whisper’s vision of delivering sports production with an entertainment edge aligns perfectly with the direction Spark Sport and New Zealand Cricket want to take our brands and cricket production. They have a unique ability to harness the power of entertainment and mix that with live sports to captivate an audience.”
“Whisper will bring some top global talent in cricket production including a director who has been instrumental in producing sport across the Tasman for Channel 9 and the producer who put together the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup final,” adds Latch. “However, the majority of our cricket production team will be sourced from New Zealand’s experienced freelance production workforce.”
Whisper managing director Mark Cole says: “Whisper is focused on bringing a point of difference to the New Zealand sports scene by providing world class coverage and a real focus on storytelling. We have recently appointed former England Cricket captain Michael Vaughan as an advisory board member so he will also have a supporting role on this project. We also intend to work extensively with local production talent, as we have in the West Indies and elsewhere, and to draw upon and benefit from their vast experience and local knowledge.”
New Zealand Cricket CEO, David White, added: “Spark is proving it has an appetite for reimagining what the future of cricket in New Zealand looks like. Our teams are eager to create something new so having some of the top global production talent in the mix is getting them excited.
Earlier this week Whisper also announced it will be producing cricket highlights for both the BBC and the English and Wales Cricket Board.