Women's Big Bash League


The Women's Big Bash League is the Australian women's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition. The WBBL replaced the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, which ran from the 2007–08 season through to 2014–15. The competition features eight city-based franchises, branded identically to the men's Big Bash League. Teams are made up of current and former Australian national team members, the country's best young talent, and up to three overseas marquee players.
Sporting goods retailer Rebel was the official naming rights partner for 2015–16 Women's Big Bash League season|WBBL|01 and has since extended its sponsorship for a further five seasons. Seven Network and Fox Cricket are the current TV broadcast partners, televising 26 games of 2020–21 Women's Big Bash League season|WBBL|06.
The league, which originally ran alongside the BBL, has experienced a steady increase in media coverage and popularity since its inception, moving to a fully standalone schedule for 2019–20 Women's Big Bash League season|WBBL|05. In 2018, ESPNcricinfo included the inaugural season in its 25 Moments That Changed Cricket series, calling it "the tournament that kick-started a renaissance".
To date, the Sydney Sixers have been the most successful team, appearing in each of the first four finals and winning two titles. The Brisbane Heat are current back-to-back champions.

History

Women's International Cricket League

In early 2014, the formation of an international women's Twenty20 competition, based around the franchise model of the Indian Premier League was announced. Headed by former Australian cricketer Lisa Sthalekar and Australian businessman Shaun Martyn, the proposal involved six privately-owned Singapore-based teams with players earning over $US40,000 per season.
There was strong support from top female players for the concept, and support was sought from the International Cricket Council, while former international cricketers Geoff Lawson and Clive Lloyd were on the board of the organisation.
The concept was dealt a blow in early June, when the England and Wales Cricket Board announced that they would refuse to release centrally contracted English players. At the same time, Cricket Australia announced it would also refuse to release its players for the tournament. Both organisations expressed concern that the tournament was not being centrally run by a national cricket board, but a private company.

Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup

Before the establishment of the Women's Big Bash League, Cricket Australia conducted a national T20 competition: the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup. The tournament ran in conjunction with the WNCL with the final played as a double header alongside the Twenty20 Big Bash and the Big Bash League. The competition ran from the 2009–10 season to 2014–15 after some exhibition games were held from 2007 to 2009.
Cricket Australia decided to replace the competition with the Women's Big Bash League in an attempt to further heighten the profile and professionalism of elite-level female cricket, thereby ideally helping to grow grassroots participation and viewership of the game among girls and women across the country.

Establishment

Former Australian national captain Belinda Clark revealed on 19 January 2014 the planning for a women's BBL was in its early stages, with CA keen to take advantage of the rising popularity of women's cricket and the success of the men's BBL in its first season on free-to-air TV. On 19 February 2015, Cricket Australia announced that a Women's Big Bash League would commence in 2015–16, with teams aligned to the current men's competition. Each team's first player signing was unveiled at the official WBBL launch on 10 July 2015.
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland stated in a media release: "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 went on to claim: "Our existing female domestic competitions are arguably the strongest in the world, with the continued success of the top-ranked women's team, the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars, a testament to that." Cricket Australia executive Mike McKenna said: "Our goal is to see cricket become the sport of choice for women and girls across the nation, whether as participants or fans."
On 13 October 2015, 100 of Australia's elite cricketers joined together to pledge $20 million towards the growth of cricket in Australia, to help grassroots level Cricket, support former players and develop further opportunities for female cricketers.

Teams

The competition features the same eight city-based franchises that are in the Big Bash League. Each state's capital city features at least one team, with Sydney and Melbourne featuring two.

Media coverage

WBBL|01–WBBL|03

The 2015–16 Women's Big Bash League season was initially scheduled to have eight of the 59 matches air live on Australian free-to-air network One. Impressive television ratings convinced Network Ten to move the broadcast of the first-ever Melbourne derby between the Stars and Renegades to their main channel. The all-Sydney clashes between the Thunder and the Sixers on 2 January and the final on 24 January were likewise upgraded, whilst the broadcast schedule was also expanded to include the two semi-finals on One.
Network Ten broadcast eleven games of the 2016–17 Women's Big Bash League season. The commentary team was again led by Andrew Maher and featured Mel Jones and Lisa Sthalekar alongside Jason Bennett and Pete Lazer. Every game was also live streamed via the WBBL page on Facebook and .
A total of twelve 2017–18 matches were televised on free-to-air by Network Ten, including four on the opening weekend. The remaining 47 matches were live streamed on cricket.com.au and as well as the .

WBBL|04–WBBL|09

In April 2018, as part of a new six-year broadcast rights deal, Cricket Australia announced 23 matches of each season would be aired live on the Seven Network and simulcast on Fox Sports' dedicated cricket channel Fox Cricket, with the remaining 36 matches to be live streamed on the CA website and app.
Ahead of the 2019–20 season, Cricket Australia announced all 59 matches would also be streamed live and on demand through Kayo Sports.
An additional three games were allocated TV coverage on the Seven Network and Fox Cricket for the 2020–21 season, taking the overall number of televised WBBL|06 matches to 26. Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia's Head of Big Bash Leagues, subsequently said: "The Rebel WBBL is the world's best cricket league for women and keeps getting better, which was reflected in a 21 per cent increase in multichannel audiences last season."

Development

Tournament structure

In the inaugural season, teams were required to play games in sporadic clusters, such as twice in an afternoon or four times across three days. They were also forced to occasionally meet in neutral cities, with the most notable occurrence being the 2017–18 Women's Big Bash League season|WBBL|03 final played between the Sydney Sixers and the Perth Scorchers at the Adelaide Oval. Although such practices have become less common, they are yet to be completely eliminated.
The WBBL featured matches that were played as curtain-raisers to the men's Big Bash League until moving to a standalone format for the 2019–20 edition. Ahead of the 2018–19 season, Cricket Australia announced it would begin to introduce spectator admission fees for the league, starting with matches in Sydney. The 2018–19 Women's Big Bash League season|WBBL|04 final at Drummoyne Oval became the league's first match to sell out.
Matches are typically played at boutique venues in each state's capital city, such as Junction Oval in Melbourne and Allan Border Field in Brisbane. However, regional centres have also embraced the opportunity to host WBBL games: on 5 January 2019 at Harrup Park in Mackay, a new record for the league's highest standalone attendance was achieved; in another example, Cricket North West scheduled a weekend free of local cricket to maximise attendance for a 2019–20 Women's Big Bash League season|WBBL|05 game at West Park Oval in Burnie.

Player salaries

For 2015–16 Women's Big Bash League season|WBBL|01, players would earn between $3000 and $10,000. This was in addition to the $7000 retainer which all female domestic cricketers would earn playing in the Women's National Cricket League. Retainers for national representatives, of which a WBBL team can sign a maximum of five per season, ranged from $19,000 to $49,000 before taking match payments and tour fees into consideration.
In April 2016, Cricket Australia increased its elite female player payment pool from $2.36 million to $4.24 million for the 2016–17 season. With maximum retainers rising to $65,000 for national representatives and up to $15,000 for the WBBL, the best Australian women cricketers would earn a base salary of around $80,000 before exceeding earnings of six-figures with match payments and tour fees. Minimum retainers also increased, with domestic players earning at least $7000 in the WBBL and $11,000 in the WNCL. Australia's top domestic female cricketers would earn $26,000.
In August 2017, after extensive negotiations with the Australian Cricketers' Association, Cricket Australia announced it would increase total female player payments from $7.5 million to $55.2 million. The deal, hailed as the biggest pay rise in the history of women's sport in Australia, meant domestic players in 2017–18 would earn at least $25,659 in the WNCL and a minimum of $10,292 in the WBBL. For 2021–22, the last year of the deal, domestic and national team players would earn an average of $58,000 and $211,000 respectively.
The table below details the rise in minimum and average earnings of local players and international players since the inaugural Women's Big Bash League season:

Quality of product

Scoring

Commentators have praised the rising standard of cricket displayed throughout the WBBL's early years, particularly the improved striking ability of batters. The inaugural season was typically dominated by bowlers, with the run rate sitting at 6.29 across the competition. By the 2018–19 season, it had increased to 7.31 with batters clearing the rope nearly three-times as often. Although the rate of scoring remained steady from WBBL|04 to WBBL|05, the frequency of wickets taken and sixes hit decreased, indicating a more conservative approach by both batters and bowlers. This could possibly be attributed to the tournament's shift to the start of the summer, when pitches tend to be slower and less conducive to attacking play.
The table below details the progression of runs scored and wickets taken as well as total sixes hit and centuries scored across the first five seasons:
SeasonRunsWkts6s100s
2015–161266.71111
2016–171296.01621
2017–181336.22063
2018–191466.42706
1465.82523

Sources:

Fielding

The 2015–16 final was noted for a poor level of fielding as both teams succumbed to the occasion's high pressure. Conversely, the "incredible" semi-finals three seasons later at Drummoyne Oval featured exciting endings determined by "miracle" catching and run out plays which drew widespread acclaim. In an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald, former Australian cricketer Geoff Lawson highlighted these moments of "precision" as a sign that the league had rapidly transformed into a "serious professional sporting competition" which justified CA's investment in women's cricket.

Overseas players

The level of competition in the WBBL is enhanced by luring many of the best overseas players to Australian shores. South African Marizanne Kapp, member of the Sydney Sixers, and New Zealander Sophie Devine, member of the Adelaide Strikers, are among the international signings who have been permanent fixtures for their respective teams across the first five seasons. However, in November 2019, after some WBBL squads had been heavily impacted by conflicting international cricket schedules—particularly teams featuring Indian and English players—newly appointed CA board member Mel Jones cited a need for greater cooperation between nations to give the league a clearer window.

Australian players

Another feature of the league is the ongoing presence of all leading Australian female players, such as Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry. This is a stark contrast to the BBL, in which many of the top male Australian players—including David Warner and Pat Cummins—are rarely able to participate due to Test and ODI commitments. Consequently, the WBBL is seen as an optimal means of fast-tracking the development of the country's most promising young players, enabling them to gain first-hand experience from world-class team mates and opponents. Ashleigh Gardner and Sophie Molineux are two examples of talented teenage debutants who went on to earn national selection before turning 21.

Tournament results

Season summaries

Final summaries

Team performance

Team
Adelaide Strikers4th 2nd
Brisbane Heat3rd
Hobart Hurricanes2nd 4th
4th 4th
Melbourne Stars
Perth Scorchers4th 2nd 3rd 3rd
Sydney Sixers3rd 1st
Sydney Thunder2nd 2nd

Legend

C = Champion; RU = Runner-up; SF = Semifinalist; 1st = Ladder position after regular season

Statistics and records

All-time stats

  1. Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry – 16 each
  2. Sophie Devine – 15
  3. Meg Lanning – 14
  4. Alyssa Healy – 12
  5. Elyse Villani – 10
  6. Amy Satterthwaite – 9
  7. Sophie Molineux, Stafanie Taylor – 8 each
  8. Alex Blackwell – 7
  9. Sarah Coyte, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Danielle Wyatt – 6 each
  10. Nicole Bolton, Heather Graham, Tahlia McGrath – 5 each
Source:

Hat-tricks

The following is a list of hat-tricks taken in the WBBL:
Statistics and records updated through the end of WBBL|05