The decision to televise the 2013 RYOBI One Day Cup live and in HD on GEM has again proved a hit amongst cricket fans with Sunday’s match between the NSW Blues and Victoria Bushrangers recording a National Average Audience of 176,231. And an extraordinary 937,395 people watched the match at some stage during the day.

Featuring the likes of David Warner, Josh Hazlewood, Steve Smith, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Wade, Cameron White, David Hussey and Peter Siddle, this fixture between the two fierce rivals was the highest rating match of the tournament so far and has helped to raise the 2013/14 Series Average to 95,792, well above the 2012/13 Series Average of 52,780.

This was also the fifth match played on either a public holiday or weekend that has attracted a National Average Audience above 100,000, with the others including:

• NSW vs Tasmania (Sunday, September 29) – 100,221
• NSW vs Victoria (Monday, October 7) – 107,769
• Tasmania vs South Australia (Saturday, October 12) – 100,665
• Queensland vs Victoria (Sunday, October 13) – 131,334

In the five mainland capitals, last Sunday’s NSW vs Victoria match was enjoyed by an average of approximately 60,000 viewers during the morning, with approximately 117,000 tuning in during the afternoon in for NSW’s successful run chase, including a brilliant century to David Warner.

This compared favourably to the A-League with the clash between Wellington and the Western Sydney Wanderers logging an Average Audience of 78,000, with the match between Newcastle and Perth recording 36,000.

Cricket NSW Chief Executive, Andrew Jones, said the latest rating figures were a wonderful result for cricket.

“The response from fans to having the RYOBI One Day Cup broadcast live on GEM has been extremely positive. The past three weeks have given the tournament a great base to build on in terms of ratings and I look forward to seeing what can be achieved over the next seven days as the competition reaches its climax.”

There are three more matches scheduled for broadcast in the 2013 RYOBI One Day Cup with Queensland playing Western Australia today, followed by the Semi Final on Thursday (October 24) and the Final on Sunday (October 27). All of these matches will be played at North Sydney Oval.

Queensland, Victoria and the NSW Blues are guaranteed to finish in the top three for this tournament, with the side ranked at the top of the ladder going straight through to the Final. The second and third ranked teams will play-off for the right to meet them in the Semi Final.