Women's BBL trimmed, CA to launch new T20 tourney

Melbourne, April 30: Cricket Australia (CA) often takes bold measures to promote their cricket structure, raise and groom new players and prefers to invest in long-term cricket benefits for the nation.

Being proactive and prioritising national interests to personal glorifications, Cricket Australia has been successful in producing several quality men and women players, who stamp their authority in all forms of the game.

The latest decision by the CA is related to the women's cricket. The Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) season will be condensed, and a fresh state-based T20 competition will be introduced as CA unveiled a 10-year action plan to invest, boost grassroots participation, and enhance commercial revenue in women's cricket.

The WBBL, which had a 56-game regular season in each of the nine seasons since it was introduced in 2015-16, has now transitioned to a 40-game season, aligning it with the men's BBL final.

Teams will now compete in 10 regular season matches instead of 14. The salary caps for clubs will remain unchanged.

The new state-based T20 competition, which still has some details to be finalised, is expected to run alongside the 50-over Women's National Cricket League.

The introduction of new competition means there will be no overall reduction in women's games with the tournament to provide more top-flight playing opportunities for domestic cricketers, according to cricket.com.au website.

Next season, the new competition will lead to an increase in salaries for female domestic players. The average salary for female domestic players will rise by eight per cent to AU$163,322 for those holding contracts in both the WBBL and state competitions.

CA has pledged to increase the number of matches held in Australia's premier stadiums, with a focus on maximizing attendance for women's internationals and the WBBL at the major venues.

The CA action plans over the years have helped Australia to dominate world cricket at all levels. While several other cricket boards continue to accumulate more financial returns and take steps to improve their power and supremacy, CA always prioritise national interests and focus on winning more matches and titles. Perhaps that is why Aussies are so successful as players and teams. (With IANS support)