Cricket Australia's $1.2 billion move to Foxtel has, much like the Australian team's performance against South Africa, debuted with a whimper.

Sunday's coverage of the first One Day International (ODI) in Perth between Australia and South Africa on Foxtel's new Fox Cricket channel attracted an average audience of just 205,000 viewers across the five major cities.

To put that in perspective, Foxtel scored higher ratings in recent weeks with its coverage of Gold Coast Supercars (212,000 viewers) and an NRL test between Australia and Tonga (231,000 viewers).

The figures represent an almost fourfold drop when contrasted with last season's ODI in Perth between Australia and England on Nine – the fifth game in a series England had wrapped up early – which attracted an average audience of 956,000 viewers for the free-to-air network.