The legendary Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Sydney Cricket Ground will play the host for Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) games in the coming season, for the first occasion in the history of this marquee T20 tournament was moved to an individual window in the year.
Following the schedule of the upcoming season 9, as announced by Cricket Australia, MCG, SCG, and Adelaide Oval will be the venues. Adelaide Oval will host the finale week of the season, which starts on the 19th of October.
This final window is scheduled to begin on the evening of Friday (November 24) in Adelaide in a game with Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder, followed by an Adelaide Strikers vs. Perth Scorchers clash. The game will move to the storied MCG to host Melbourne Derby the following day (November 25) before its time for the Sydney Smash on Sunday.
Alistair Dobson, CA’s General Manager of the Big Bash Leagues, said that the decision to schedule WBBL matches at top locations was due to the massive turnout for the current Women’s Ashes and was essential in developing the sport.
“The base of the WBBL lies in these legendary venues, like North Sydney Oval and Allan Border Field. So it is likely that the WBBL will play there long-term, and the possibility to host some huge occasions is thrilling and exciting for all of us,” Dobson said.
“We can judge the effectiveness of those matches in various methods… we’ll be working at bringing crowds to the stadium; however, it’s not the sole measure of our success. The world is seeing this moment that when you play fantastic cricket at big well-known stadiums, fans would like to come out, and we’re witnessing it in the UK right now, and we’ve seen it happen at the WPL.”
The schedule for this upcoming ninth season will include 10 neutral games, which are down from the 25 games in the previous season, and each team also plays an at-home game during the first 9 days of the competition.
As such, the season will comprise the exact 59 matches (56 league games plus three finals), while it is the first time that men’s Big Bash League has been cut to 44 games the current season. The WBBL will be played with the male’s World Cup but won’t suffer any clashes with domestic or international matches. Finals will take place on the 2nd day of December.
