Ten gets runs on the board with Big Bash ratings success Six sells: Ravi Bopara clears the rope at the SCG on Saturday. Cricket Australia says it is delighted with the opening weekend of the Big Bash after fans turned the Twenty20 competition into a prime-time ratings hit. The clicking of the turnstiles was well and truly drowned out by the sound of high fives by TV and CA executives celebrating the ratings success from the Melbourne and Sydney derbies. The public may not have exactly voted with their feet but did so with their remote controls, with both matches attracting a national television audience of more than one million. A day after more than 1.16 million capital city and regional viewers tuned into the start of Channel Ten's coverage of the Stars-Renegades clash, 1.13 million fans watched the Sydney Sixers continue their dominance of cross-town rival the Thunder. The numbers, which CA says are well beyond its expectations, are double the goal of 500,000 which the governing body and Ten agreed upon before the start of the competition. Not even the washout in Hobart on Sunday could dampen CA's enthusiasm. CA will be particularly pleased given the dismissive comments Football Federation Australia boss David Gallop made last week about Twenty20 cricket, which will be going head to head with the A-League over the holiday period. You always start off these things conservatively. We thought we might get, if we were lucky, around 700-800,000 but to get over a million is brilliant," Big Bash League chief Mike McKenna said. Our targets are over a season so we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves but you can't help but get excited with those numbers. They are the sort of numbers that we often get for Test series. So far so good. The success of the Melbourne match allowed the Ten network to claim victory on Friday night for commercial share in capital cities in prime time in the 25-54 age group. The clash between Sydney's franchises was beaten by Carols in the Domain, which won the Saturday night time slot though its numbers were down markedly from last year when the BBL was not on free-to-air television. But the big numbers from the opening two games of the BBL will be a huge encouragement for the station, which shelled out $100 million in cash and contra to CA as part of a five-year deal for rights to the domestic Twenty20 competition. CA is pleased it made the move to free-to-air TV despite average audiences on Foxtel - 280,000 in 2011-12 and 230,000 last summer - for cricket being higher than any other sport. "It vindicates Channel Ten's decision to invest in cricket," McKenna said. I think they were always very keen and right now thinking they've got good value for money if it keeps on this way. The hot reception in lounge rooms around the country has allayed apprehension CA has towards the moderate crowds for the derbies. Sydney's turnout of 18,180 failed to meet the goal of 20,000 but the two Melbourne franchises drew a crowd of 25,266, marginally above the 25,000 pass mark CA had set. However that was surpassed by the A-League's Melbourne derby, which drew 26,491 across the road at AAMI Park a night later. "We expect the post-Christmas period is when crowds will really grow and we think TV exposure to a huge audience will only help that," McKenna said. People will get a chance to see what they're missing out on and want to be at the game.