In cricket news, the opening match of The Hundred has set a new record for the most viewed women's cricket match in the UK (including international and domestic).

The enthralling encounter between Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals reached its final stages at The Kia Oval yesterday night, drawing a peak audience of 1.95 million across BBC Two, Sky Sports Cricket, Main Event, and Mix the Match. More than 3.8 million individuals watched the coverage across all channels (for at least three minutes), with roughly 35% of viewers being female.

The previous highest watched women's cricket match in the United Kingdom was the 3rd IT20 versus India last week, which drew a peak audience of 1.24 million.

The match was also aired live on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online, with even more people watching on Sky Sports YouTube.

The high television ratings come after a sell-out crowd at The Kia Oval for a single professional domestic women's match.

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The first day of sales for the new 100-ball competition also happened to be the busiest day of ticket sales since they went on sale to the general public. Over 11,000 tickets have been purchased for the remaining matches of the competition.

Sanjay Patel, Managing Director, The Hundred, said: “We couldn’t have asked for a better start to The Hundred – a thrilling match which went down to the wire, a brilliant atmosphere inside the crowd with lots of families and children, and record figures watching at home.

“The Hundred is all about throwing cricket’s doors open for everyone, and the response to last night’s game has been remarkable. We know this is only the first game and there is still a lot of hard work ahead. We’re grateful to Sky for their long-term support for English cricket and especially The Hundred and are excited by the partnership with them and the BBC helping us to reach a broader audience.”