BBC secure World Cup highlights

International cricket is set to return to BBC Television after a nine-year hiatus, after the corporation announced it had secured the rights to broadcast highlights of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

The tournament, which takes place in the Caribbean in March and April 2007, will be the first cricket to be broadcast on BBC Television since the summer of 1998, when South Africa and Sri Lanka toured England.

The announcement marks another step in the rehabilitation of cricket, a sport that attracted huge audiences for this summer's Ashes campaign, with Channel 4 reporting peak viewing figures of 8.4 million during the drawn Old Trafford Test.

Jana Bennett, the BBC's Director of Television, said: "We are looking forward to broadcasting what will be a fantastic festival of cricket, and the chance to bring new audiences to what I am sure will be a great late night highlights programme."

Key highlights from all the main matches will be shown on BBC Two at 11.15pm, and in total the BBC will be showing 29 hours of cricket highlights. England will be competing as well as Scotland and Ireland. The Scots will face the defending champions, Australia, in the group stage of the tournament.