Cricket Australia has today announced an exciting expansion of its women’s interstate cricket program, with ACT and Tasmania invited to join its senior competitions next summer.
After reviewing their respective applications, the Cricket Australia Board has admitted ACT into an expanded Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) and inaugural Women’s Twenty20 competition for 2009-10, while Tasmania will compete in the new Twenty20 competition only.
ACT has competed strongly in all underage female national championships in previous years and their entry into the senior interstate competitions is a reward for their development of junior talent during this time.
Tasmania will initially compete in the Women’s Twenty20 competition, with their entry into the WNCL in 2010-11 subject to the Tasmanian Cricket Association meeting the required minimum standards as set out by Cricket Australia.
Over the past two years, both ACT and Tasmania have produced players who have been selected in Commonwealth Bank Shooting Stars (Australia Under-21) squads (Emilee Preston, ACT, 2008-09) and (Katelyn Fryett, TAS, 2009-10).
“The expansion of the WNCL and introduction of a Women’s Twenty20 competition highlights the continued growth of women’s cricket in Australia,” Cricket Australia General Manager, Cricket, Michael Brown, said.
“Female cricket participation has flourished in recent years and the inclusion of both ACT and Tasmania in national competitions in 2009-10 is another positive sign that we are moving in the right direction.
“Importantly, the expansion of our interstate competitions will increase the pool of female elite cricketers in Australia and provide more pathway opportunities for the next generation of Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars.”
ACT and Tasmania’s entry into a new Women’s Twenty20 competition, where they will join Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, will raise the number of states playing women’s elite cricket to seven.
In previous years, women’s teams played a selection of independent Twenty20 matches throughout the season, but 2009-10 will be the first time that a formal 20-over national competition will be held.
While the fixture is still being developed, the inaugural Twenty20 competition will be attached to WNCL rounds where possible, with some matches also played as double-header clashes with the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash.
The new competition will provide additional opportunities for Australia’s elite women’s cricketers to play Twenty20 cricket, an important consideration given the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars’ participation in the current ICC World Twenty20 tournament in England and next year’s event in the West Indies.
It will also provide a significant promotional opportunity for women’s cricket in Australia, especially those matches that will be played alongside the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash.
With ACT’s inclusion, the 2008-09 WNCL will contain six teams with the competition starting in late October/early November and ending in late January.
It is the first expansion of the WNCL since the competition’s inception in 1996-97, with each team in 2009-10 to play 10 one-day matches (five rounds of back-to-back matches) before the top two play off in the final.
Meanwhile the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars have reached the semi finals of the ICC World Twenty20 in England and will play the home nation at The Oval on Friday. The match will be played as a double-header before the men’s ICC World Twenty20 semi final between Sri Lanka and West Indies.
