It’s home and away as KSL keeps on growing
A SIGNIFICANT overhaul has been announced for the Kia Super League next summer with the elite T20 women’s competition doubling the number of games played in previous iterations in order to create an elegant home and away draw between the six competing clubs.
Sky Sports’ coverage of the groundbreaking tournament is also set to grow with eight regular-season matches to be broadcast as double-headers alongside the T20 Blast, up from six in 2017.
In the first two seasons of the tournament, sides contested once, meaning each played only five games. From 2018, return legs will make a fixture list of ten, beginning on July 22, when Western Storm host Yorkshire Diamonds at Taunton.
Finals Day will be August 27, once again at the County Ground in Hove (on a Bank Holiday Monday) with Sky Sports in attendance as well as BBC Test Match Special.
“The KSL is a tournament that gets better every year and we’re delighted that it’s been expanded,” Heather Knight, England and Storm captain, said in welcoming the news.
“T20 cricket will be a big focus for us this year, ahead of the World T20 in November, and hopefully the expanded KSL will help the England team prepare and provide great entertainment in its own right.”
Yorkshire will also feature in the first televised game of the season on July 27, taking on rivals Lancashire Thunder in a Roses blockbuster at Headingley before the men follow suit.
In addition to Leeds, doubleheaders are scheduled for international venues including The Oval, Old Trafford, The Rose Bowl and Edgbaston.
Combined with the Blast, there will be 165 matches of domestic T20 cricket next year across a 74day window at the height of summer.
England’s women host both South Africa and New Zealand in 50 and 20-over cricket in 2018, ahead of World T20 in the Caribbean.