Cricket charms new devotees

WOMEN and young people embraced cricket’s new Big Bash League in much bigger numbers than the Twenty20 competition’s previous incarnation, Cricket Australia research has revealed. The breakdown of television and crowd figures presented to state chief executives last week has convinced CA it is on the right track in its quest to attract new audiences to the sport. BBL general manager Mike McKenna said women accounted for 43 per cent of the BBL viewing audience on Fox Sports, while 21 per cent of the women who attended games were at a match for the first time (compared with one in 10 overall). He said females accounted for about a third of viewers for the more traditional formats. Advertisement: Story continues below