Women lead the way as big bash comes home
WOMEN’S cricket will this week take a big step forward where the men have so far feared to tread when the world’s best players are showcased in England’s first Twenty20 Super League.
The ECB are divided over whether a men’s ‘city’-based tournament should be introduced in Twenty20, with both the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash leaving England behind in the short form they gave the world. Yet there are no qualms in the women’s game, where six ‘franchises’ will become pioneers by taking part in a threeweek round-robin tournament that ends with a finals day at one of the most popular venues for women’s cricket, in Chelmsford.
‘It’s going to be massive for women’s cricket,’ said England and now Lancashire Thunder bowler Kate Cross at the launch of the Kia Super League.
‘We’ve seen how big the women’s Big Bash has been in Australia and domestically we’ve needed this.
‘We’ve got some of the best players in the world coming over and that can only improve the standard of women’s cricket. It’s very exciting.’
The only question is what sort of an impact the competition will have, because it clashes with the men’s highprofile series against Pakistan and the Olympics. For the first year at least it will be devoid of any television coverage, too.
Clare Connor, the head of England women’s cricket, has almost encouraged a low-key debut year while the Super League finds its feet and the 2017 version is expected to include 50-over as well as Twenty20 matches. ‘One thing we found with the Big Bash is that it picked up momentum and this is a short tournament but we want to get as many people involved this year as possible,’ said Cross.
‘Hopefully the cricket will do the talking in that sense.
‘The beauty of the way it’s been done is that the England players have been divided equally between the sides. It should be a very evenly contested competition.’