Melbourne, May 21 (HS). Cricket Australia (CA) on Tuesday announced a new nine-team National Women's T20 tournament to be held ahead of the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) 10.
Following criticism from Victoria and New South Wales regarding the proposed format, eight WBBL clubs and one Australian Capital Territory (ACT) team will now form the foundation of a new women's domestic T20 tournament, replacing state teams.
The first tournament was originally planned to be state-based. The purpose of the tournament was to compensate for the WBBL's shortened regular season, with 40 matches to be played. However, Victoria and New South Wales, which each have two teams in the WBBL, were not happy with this model and were concerned that some of their fringe players would not get a chance to play.
The new nine-team competition is set to take place ahead of the WBBL season, with each team playing four matches before a semi-final, final and top four play-off.
CA chief executive Nick Hockley said the competition would take women's domestic cricket a step closer to full-time professionalism.
“A new domestic T20 competition will create more opportunities for elite female domestic players, as well as complement the adapted Webber WBBL programme,” Hockley said. Domestic cricket is the backbone of Australian cricket's continued success, and this competition will provide an opportunity for more domestic players to gain top level experience and showcase their talents.
Due to the schedule of the tournament, which coincides with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, Australian players will not be taking part, with overseas players also unlikely to take part.
Each Big Bash team will now play 10 WBBL regular season matches instead of 14, easing the burden on an increasingly busy calendar for Australia's top women's cricketers.
Hindustan News / Sunil
