Channel Nine moves to block Ten Network's stinging $500 million delivery to poach international cricket Cost cutting: It is uncertain if all of Channel Nine's commentators - including Richie Benaud and Michael Slater - will remain and if the network will use three to call the action or return to two. CHANNEL 9 is poised to trump the Ten Network's audacious half-billion-dollar bid to steal international cricket. The home of Australia's favourite summer sport for more than three decades, Nine has been pushed to the financial brink by Ten's bold challenge. Frantic talks were still taking place late yesterday between the networks and Cricket Australia to finalise the five-year deal. None of the parties was prepared to comment. With Monday's deadline looming, Nine executives have been desperate to keep the sport Kerry Packer grabbed after the acrimonious World Series Cricket split in the late 1970s. Nine must find $400 million over the next five years for international cricket. Ten will hand over $100 million for the same period to show the Big Bash League on free-to-air for the first time. This almost doubles the amount Nine paid for international cricket during the previous seven-year agreement - from $45 million to $80 million a year. Nine was already under increased financial pressure after last year's successful billion-dollar, five-year deal for the NRL rights, which is believed to be losing about $30 million a year. The cricket will be another significant loss leader for the network. However, both sports are considered important drivers for a share float of the debt-laden network within the next 18 months. Nine has been cutting costs to try to keep international cricket, with chief executive David Gyngell under pressure from the company's US hedge fund owners to justify the high price of holding on to it. It is uncertain if all of Nine's commentators would remain and if the network would use three to call the action or return to two. Among the former Australian captains in the commentary box doyen Richie Benaud is 82, Bill Lawry is 76 and Ian Chappell 69. Lawry had already signalled privately he would step down or at least greatly reduce his commitments next summer, while the sudden death of Tony Greig late last year aged 66 dramatically changed the composition of the commentary team. The Channel Nine commentary team and Tony Grieg's family during a minutes silence prior to the first day of play at the SCG. Poorly rating Ten will also lose money paying $20 million a year for the Big Bash but is desperate to attract significant sports content to revive the network. Fox Sports did an outstanding job showing the first two seasons of the revamped eight-team Big Bash but has no interest in matching Ten's offer. Cricket Australia is excited about the extra exposure the Big Bash will receive on free to air, lifting its viewers from about 250,000 a match on Fox Sports, one of its highest rating events, to an estimated 700,000.