The England and Wales Cricket Board marked the beginning of the Ashes, the world-renowned cricket clash between England and Australia, by agreeing a deal that will see coverage of the series appear online across major UK publisher websites.

Online media specialists Perform, which has contracts to provide sports videos for the websites of a number of major newspapers and publications, will produce three minutes of highlights from each day’s play. They will be distributed across a range of sites from the official ECBtv channel of Perform’s e-Player sports video network, and will be free for viewers to watch.

The deal expands a Perform portfolio that already includes such prestigious offerings as Premier League soccer. Perform distributes its free-to-view content to more than 130 websites, including major publishers News International, Trinity Mirror Group, Daily Mail Media Group, Telegraph Media Group and Guardian News and Media Ltd.

Five, the UK broadcaster and an official ECB broadcast partner, is the official sponsor for the ECBtv channel on the e-Player for July and August.