CRICKET fans can now watch Colchester and East Essex from the comfort of their own homes after the club launched an innovative new streaming service.

The Castle Park club's Hamro Foundation Essex League premier division home and away fixtures will be shown free of charge, on Colchester Cricket TV.

Their first XI games between now and the end of the season will also be streamed live to the Colchester Play Cricket website ‘Results’ pages.

It means that sports fans in the Colchester area, some of whom may no longer be able to get to Castle Park, can now make use of the free Saturday broadcast service.

Colchester and East Essex Cricket's Scorer and Video Manager Phil Wolski believes it is possibly the UK's first live internet recreational cricket broadcast with multiple cameras and live audio commentary, in addition to action replays and other professional broadcast features.

He said: "Despite being amateurs as regards broadcasting, we reckon the result is pretty good (720p HD quality), given that we don’t have the resources of public broadcasters and what started as a bit of fun has taken on significant importance.

"This technology is a positive advance as regards enhancing the performance pathway of future professionals.

"The standard of cricket in the Hamro Foundation Essex Premier Division is, of course, very high, with many Essex CCC players often featuring.

"The video stream also provides an opportunity for sponsors and advertisers and a typical Colchester and East Essex stream is already attracting over 500 unique viewers.

"However, one individual (funny) clip from a C&EE match that was broadcast in 2021 has now been seen by 98,000 people, having gone viral on social media.

"Our record viewings via social media is over 500,000, but that particular clip was re-tweeted by the Joe Root Academy and went globally viral."

Colchester captain Darren Eckford says they are fortunate to have such innovative technology, at Castle Park.

Eckford said: “We’re hugely privileged we’ve got the live footage from Phil Wolski puts out every week, with all of the imagery.

“I’ve got family from New Zealand who can watch a bit of the game online and things like that.

“We’re really lucky with everything that the club provides us."

Visit https://colchesteree.play-cricket.com/website/results/4644103 for footage.