English roses will return to help boost WBBL’s rise in popularity

STAR England internationals Heather Knight and Nat Sciver are set to join the WBBL again this season as the clubs celebrate a unique return to home grounds for the first time in three years with today’s official schedule launch.

England captain Knight will return to Sydney Thunder for another season while Sciver is strongly linked to Hobart Hurricanes after two seasons at Melbourne Stars.

The return of two of England’s biggest stars continues the WBBL’s claim to being the world’s premier women’s T20 tournament, with this year’s series set to start on Thursday October 13 with the Heat and Sixers at Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay. Australia’s unofficial home of women’s cricket will then host two double headers over the first weekend of the WBBL – Strikers v Sixers and Heat v Stars on Saturday; Renegades v Strikers and Sixers v Stars on Sunday.

After two years of Covid bubbles, the WBBL will return to 14 metro and regional venues for the 59 games, all broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo.

Every WBBL match has been scheduled to avoid any clash with the men’s T20 World Cup being played in Australia at the same time.

But what makes this season unique is the step away from traditional “home and away” scheduling, with more than half the games played in neutral interstate venues.

The Thunder are the only team in the competition that will get to play at least half of their games in a “home” venue of NSW or ACT.

Cross-town rivals the Sixers are worst off, with just four games in Sydney, while the Strikers and Hurricanes play just five times in their home states.

It is understood Cricket Australia – currently locked in a bitter war with free-to-air broadcaster Channel 7 – has adjusted the schedule to ensure Seven has their ideal choice of games and they are only played on weekends.