More than 100,000 tune in to Sky

Sky may have shown a huge commitment to covering the Tests, but you can't argue with viewing figures. Their audience of just over 100,000 was just a sixth of what Channel 4 gleaned on the opening day of England's summer last year.

Channel Five, though, will be delighted with their viewership of 600,000, according to unofficial figures, which represented a 4% audience share. That's nearly double their audience for the same slot of 7.15 - 8pm last week, where 400,000 viewers watched the wildlife documentary Rogue Raiders.

In fact, Cricket on Five's figures weren't too far shy of those recorded by Channel 4 on the opening day of last year's summer, against Bangladesh, with 700,000 viewers. But last year, of course, viewers had access to cricket on terrestrial throughout the day - and that was before the upsurge in interest generated by the Ashes.