And if the initial results are any indication the move is proving a good one. Television stars: Sixers players huddle during the Women's Big Bash League match against the Perth Scorchers. Credit:Getty Images The first of the televised daytime matches, between Adelaide Strikers and Brisbane Heat on Saturday, drew an average national audience of 250,000 on Ten's One HD while the second, between Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers at the SCG on Sunday, had a national average of 183,000. In contrast the free-to-air ratings of summer competitor the A-League have been hurt badly by the shift from SBS's main channel to SBS2. The football code is averaging only 78,000 for their Friday night games on the public broadcaster and 62,000 per game on Fox Sports, with the demotion to SBS2 costing them about 110,000 viewers a week. It is understood that the WBBL ratings are well in excess of internal projections, which were believed to be as low as as an average of 40,000 per game.

The ratings success of the first two matches comes as the Australian Cricketers' Association continues to lobby for female players to be covered by a memorandum of understanding as the men are. 10 out of Ten: Network Ten is rapt with its WBBL ratings, spearheaded by the likes of Melbourne Stars superbat Meg Lanning. Credit:Getty Images Fairfax Media revealed in May that CA and the players union were at odds over the future of the women's game and from where the cash should be drawn to pay women for the WBBL and to continue working towards them being paid professional-level retainers. Negotiations for a women's MOU are now expected to begin in the new year. In the meantime, the initial television numbers have only generated more optimism. Ten are treating the games they cover exactly as they do the men's matches that follow on their main channel. Big hit: Sydney Sixers' Ellyse Perry. Credit:Getty Images

"It's a really positive start," Ten's head of sport David Barham said. "We're really happy with quality of the coverage and the quality of the cricket. "One of the reasons it's working is we're putting full resources into it. There is no difference between the quality and the amount of cameras we're using in the women's and men's game. "It's probably the only women's sport in this country with 30 cameras on it. It's the highest quality coverage we can do." Anthony Everard, the BBL and WBBL senior manager, said that the early success of the new tournament on television pointed to the event being a significant one for women's sport. "The interesting thing is women's domestic cricket had never been broadcast live on free-to-air so we were not sure what to expect," Everard said.