Cricket Websites Fired Up By Ashes Drama

Online interest in cricket has reached record levels as fans turn to the internet for news of the closest Ashes Test series for years.

Traffic to cricket websites such as Cricinfo.com, Cricbuzz.com and the online site of the English and Wales Cricket Board - the top three UK sites - has rocketed, according to online measurement firm Hitwise.

Page impressions on Ecb.co.uk have shot up to 12.25m as of yesterday, from just 5m for the whole of August last year, while Cricinfo.com said it reached around 1.5 million people during the third Test, a 50% increase on the previous Test.

Meanwhile, Guardian Unlimited's over-by-over coverage of the Test series has been attracting up to 1.5m hits a day, up from around 700,000 last summer.

"We often see spikes around individual sports events but this one is particularly impressive," said the Hitwise director of research, Heather Hopkins.

Ms Hopkins said cricket sites' share of all UK online traffic rose by more than 25% compared with last July, when England hosted and beat the West Indies.

"There's a lot of media interest in cricket generally, with talk of some clubs going public and a lot of excitement surrounding the fourth Test which could help England towards its first [series] victory [against Australia] in 18 years," she said.

The cricket boom has also sparked interest in sites for regional clubs, with Lancashire and Nottinghamshire' sites both in the top 10.

"Interest in cricket online is clearly reflective of the excitement generated by the current Test, but that has a knock-on effect at county level and to the women's game and we expect that to continue," said an ECB spokesman.

Hitwise reports searches for the words "Ashes tickets" have rocketed by 350%, despite sellouts for the two remaining Tests and prices on the top two sites, eBay and Theonlineticketshop.com, reaching £700.