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The Oval Invincible beat Manchester Originals as Best of the Hundred opener

Wednesday’s historic hundred opener was the most-watched women’s cricket match in UK history – international or domestic – attracting a peak audience of 1.95 million people.

The New England and Wales Cricket Board 100-ball tournament got off to a solid start as the Oval Invincibles ousted Manchester Originals in the women’s competition in a match broadcast simultaneously on Sky Sports and BBC Two.

BBC coverage attracted 1.6 million viewers at its peak, with 180,000 live broadcasts via BBC Sport Online and iPlayer, with Sky – showing the game for free on its main event channel, Sky Sports Cricket and YouTube – the rest. formation of.

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Sanjay Patel, General Manager of The Hundred, said: “We couldn’t have asked for a better start to The Hundred – an exciting game that went to the wire, a great atmosphere in a crowd with many families and children, and record numbers House.

“The Hundred is about opening the doors of cricket to everyone, and the response to last night’s game was remarkable. We know this is only the first game and there is still a lot of work to be done.

“We are grateful to Sky for their long-term support for English cricket, and The Hundred in particular, and we are delighted with the partnership with them and the BBC that is helping us reach a wider audience. “

A total of 7,395 people packed the Kia Oval in London, a record crowd for a stand-alone home match in professional women’s football, and positive spectator figures broke the record set by the third T20 International against India last week. Gave.

An ECB statement said that 35% of all spectators were women, an encouraging sign given the competition’s commitment to inclusivity and diversity, with their data also showing that new ticket sales on launch day It was the busiest day for the year – over 11,000 were purchased within the 24-hour window.

Each of The Hundred matches will be broadcast live sky sports les st As well as on Sky Sports Mix, while all women’s matches and a significant number of men’s matches will be streamed live on the Sky Cricket YouTube channel.