Virtual Eye News

The year began with our Cricket Ops supporting the 3rd Test between Australia and South Africa at the SCG, while the Big Bash League kept another 3 Operator teams busy throughout January. On January 7th BBL Team One covered the Melbourne Renegades vs the Hobart Hurricanes at Docklands Stadium, BBL Team Two covered the Perth Scorchers vs the Brisbane Heat and BBL Team Three covered the Melbourne Stars vs the Sydney Sixers at the MCG. Mid-month saw BBL Team One supporting the Melbourne Renegades vs the Melbourne Stars, while Teams Two and Three brought our graphics to the Adelaide Strikers vs the Brisbane Heat and the Sydney Thunder vs the Perth Scorchers. On the 20th of the month Teams One and Two covered the Brisbane Heat vs the Hobart Hurricanes and the Adelaide Strikers vs the Perth Scorchers respectively, while BBL Team Three covered the Sydney Sixers vs the Sydney Thunder at the SCG the following day.

The Ocean Race is an event Virtual Eye has been involved with since the 1997-1998 Whitbread Round The World Race, and we are again providing our graphics for the duration of the Race. This time around the field is split into two yacht classes, IMOCA and VO65, effectively creating two races - with the VO65 class competing for a new trophy, The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup. On January 8th in Alicante, Spain, The Ocean Race launched with In-Port Racing for VO65 and Imoca classes. The first Leg of both races started from Alicante on January 15th, with the two classes racing to Cabo Verde and the port of Mindelo on the island of São Vicente. The second Leg to Cape Town started on the 25th of the month for the IMOCA class, with the VO65s second Leg - Aarhus to The Hague, beginning June 8th.

Virtual Eye supports multiple professional Golf Tours with our tracking graphics. Our first PGA Tour event for 2023 teed off on January 5th, the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Kapalua Plantation course, followed a week later by the Sony Open in Hawaii at the Waialae Country Club. At the same time, another Operator team started on the European Tour supporting the Hero Cup at Abu Dhabi Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates. Next, the two Operator teams covered our first concurrent Golf tournaments of the year - The American Express on the PGA Tour and Abu Dhabi Golf Championship on the European Tour. The final pairing for the month were the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and the Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club.

Our Summer of Cricket was in top gear for December, with Virtual Eye graphics supporting the live broadcasts of the Australia vs West Indies Test Series in Perth and Adelaide, before taking on the Australia vs South Africa Test Series concurrent with providing graphics for the 2022/23 Big Bash League T20 matches. To realize this we split our operators into 4 teams, with 3 dedicated to BBL coverage.

The 1st Test began on December 17th at the Gabba in Brisbane, with BBL Team One simultaneously covering the Perth Scorchers v Sydney Sixers T20 match in Perth. BBL Teams One and Two then supported concurrent matches in Melbourne and Brisbane, the day before BBL Team Three provided our graphics for the Hobart Hurricanes vs Melbourne Renegades T20 at the Bellerive Oval on Christmas Eve.

Above: Mark Howard behind the scenes with Virtual Eye, BBG Sports and the Broadcast truck during the 1st Test between Australia and West Indies in Perth.

The 2nd Test of the Australia vs South Africa Series began on Boxing Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with Virtual Eye providing our real-time positioning and player performance information, wrapping up on December 29th. BBL Team Three covered the Melbourne Renegades vs Sydney Sixers T20 in Geelong on December 30th, before Teams One and Two supported BBL T20 matches in Albury and Adelaide on the final day of 2022. Additionally, our Golf Operators covered the ISPS HANDA Australian Open 2022 at the start of December.