Dramatic finale to Women's Ashes Test gets record-breaking audience

Day four of the draw in Canberra brings in two million viewers across platforms - the most-watched day of a women's Test in Cricket Australia's history

Australia and England's dramatic draw on day four in the one-off Women's Ashes Test drew a combined home audience of more than two million.

The figures, according to data provided to The Age and The Herald, includes free-to-air coverage on Channel 7 and streaming on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.

An average of 440,000 viewers watched the concluding session of the final day on FTA TV alone.

It goes down as the most-watched day of a women's Test in Cricket Australia's history.

BT Sport, who showed the Test in the UK, do not typically publish viewing figures for their content.

England survived the final 13 balls of the match with nine second-innings wickets lost and fell just 12 runs short of a victory target of 257.

Australia had looked destined for defeat until a stellar comeback with the ball - six wickets fell for 26 runs in 5.2 overs - ensured they head into the ODI portion of the series with one hand on the Ashes urn.

The thrilling contest at the Manuka Oval has led to widespread calls for more women's Tests to be added to the calendar.

^{Australia bowled themselves back into the Test as England looked set for victory (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)}

Having seen impressive viewing figures for the Canberra Test, CA are naturally eager to respond to the interest.

"We are working through the new women’s Future Tours Program at the moment," a Cricket Australia spokesperson said.

"Cricket Australia is supportive of playing as much Test cricket as is practical, as evidenced by hosting Test matches versus both India and England as part of multi-format series this season while supporting the global growth of the women’s game."

Australia coach Matthew Mott hopes the game can make a commitment towards playing more women's Test cricket.

"I still think that the Test matches are really good in this [multi-format] context, around the top teams playing it," he said.

"[At the moment] I think that will only come to the fore when we’re playing India and England every couple of years.

"And then obviously South Africa and New Zealand, [depending on] whether they have an appetite for it as well."