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Cricket Australia have announced the launch of an eight-team Women’s Big Bash League from the 2015-16 season with the teams set to mirror those in the men’s Big Bash League.
The franchise-based women’s Twenty20 tournament will be the first of its kind, giving women’s cricket a boost world over.
CA chief executive James Sutherland said the event would benefit women’s cricket overall. "We see T20 as the premium format of the women's game and the WBBL is an exciting concept that will increase the promotion and exposure of women's cricket," he said.
"Aligning the WBBL brands with the BBL brands will help cricket to appeal to a broader audience and gain greater exposure. Our existing female domestic competitions are arguably the strongest in the world, with the continued success of the top-ranked women's team, the Southern Stars, a testament to that. The WBBL will build on this foundation and will create a clear participation pathway for girls and their families, who are already engaged with cricket through the BBL,” he added.
The new league will replace the existing seven-team Women’s T20, the latest edition of which concluded in the end of January-2015 with New South Wales Women declared the champion.
Although the women’s franchises will take the names of the men’s teams and wear the same colours for the 2015-16 season, the details of the exact format of the competition are still under discussion.
This decision, endorsed by CA on Friday, Sutherland says “is a vindication for the players such as Meg Lanning, Alex Blackwell, Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy who continue to be exceptional ambassadors for Australian cricket, both on and off the field," reported The Guardian.
