CricInfo heads the winter averages as new cricket season begins

CricInfo.com, the world's biggest sports Internet site, generated a record 95,536,300 page impressions during March 2000. This figure beats the site's previous best, 87,883,956, which was recorded in January this year. An estimated seven million people have used the site during the first quarter of 2000, resulting approximately one billion hits to date this year.

CricInfo, www.cricinfo.com, will shortly unveil a package of new services and features which will result in the most comprehensive coverage of the English season ever known. These features include sites for every county, audio and video interviews, diaries from top players, breaking news and reports from every game, as well as in-depth coverage of women's, Minor Counties and Second XI cricket. For the first time, the site will also feature live ball-by-ball scores from all domestic and International cricket played in England.

CricInfo's Chief Executive, Simon King, said, "These figures really are exceptional, and show the enduring strength of CricInfo's unique content. It attracts a real global cricket community - and that community just keeps on growing. We hope that we can harness some of the enthusiasm we see around the world every winter, and use it to the benefit of the game in England."

CricInfo Ltd. is the world's leading digital cricket publisher. CricInfo's web site, www.cricinfo.com, is the most popular cricket site in the world and the Internet's most popular single-sport site, reaching more than eight million fans in 180 countries.

CricInfo works with cricket boards and cricket organisations, blue chip companies and the media to deliver cricket content for a wide range of different platforms. It currently produces official sites for five of the nine Test-playing countries.

Among CricInfo's recent initiatives are Baggy Green www.baggygreen.com, a joint-venture with the Australian Cricket Board and NineMSN, which was launched in September 1999, and has quickly established itself as Australia' s leading sports site. CricInfo was the only media organisation to provide live coverage of January's Under 19 World Cup in Sri Lanka, with a team of 12 providing live scores and commentary direct from the grounds.

CricInfo produces CricInfo 365, the free daily email newsletter, which has more than 150,000 subscribers, making it the world's most popular cricket subscription publication. More than 50,000 people have participated in cricket fantasy games on CricInfo sites in the last year.

CricInfo is committed to investing in the future of the game, and recently announced an £80,000 contribution to Zimbabwe's Development Programme. The company will also sponsor the CricInfo Women's World Cup which will take place in New Zealand in November and December this year.

For further information, please contact:

Andrew Hall, Marketing Manager, CricInfo Ltd.

Telephone: 01249 700721
Email: andrew.hall@cricinfo.com