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The first weekend of the third edition of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) has attracted a peak audience of 629,000 with an average of 422,550 for the prime-time game between the Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Stars, the largest average of any regular season WBBL match.
Ash Gardner holds the record for the highest WBBL score of 114, and the fastest century off 47 balls. Photograph: Matt King/Getty Images
Overall, viewing figures for the first day of competition represented a 46.6 per cent increase on the season two average, underlining soaring public interest in women’s cricket.
Crowds were also up, with 8,726 fans attending North Sydney Oval for four of the six matches, while those in attendance were treated to some vintage cricket – and the tumbling of records.
In the opening match of the season, Sydney Thunder raced to 6-200, setting the highest score in WBBL history. However, that record only stood for a few hours, as cross-town rivals the Sydney Sixers slogged their way to 4-242 against the Stars. This remains the biggest score hit by any Big Bash team (of any gender).
Ashleigh Gardner’s record-breaking knock was particularly eye-catching, managing 114 off 52 balls, with six sixes, including one to bring up the hundred. On air, commentator Mel Jones described it as “one of the best T20 hundreds you will ever see”, and the highlights speak for the claim. As it stands, Gardner’s is the highest score in WBBL history, as well as the fastest century (off 47 balls).
Gardner’s half-century, smacked off 22 balls, was also the fastest half-century scored in WBBL, before South African Lizelle Lee of the Melbourne Stars equalled that record in the innings that followed. An aggregate score of 398 runs between the two sides also stands as the highest WBBL aggregate score to date.
Ellyse Perry, whose 91 off 49 against the Stars was overshadowed by Ash Gardner’s knock, said the quality of the first weekend could be put down to “another year into the development of women’s cricket”.
“Most of the players have been fulltime elite cricketers for the last 12 months, so that’s always going to lead to development. The girls are fitter, they are stronger, they’ve had more time to work on their technique and get to know their games, so it’s probably not surprising in a lot of ways.”
Cricket Australia’s Head of Big Bash Kim McConnie added that the viewing and crowd figures were “testament to our ambition of making the WBBL the best women’s sporting competition in the world”.
(GUARDIAN)
