One of the largest significant developments in the history of women’s cricket has recently been announced with the introduction of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), along with the great news that 8 of the matches will be broadcast on free to air television.
The women’s T20 competition will feature eight clubs, aligned with the teams competing in the men’s KFC T20 Big Bash League.
The WBBL has one additional team in the competition over the Women’s National Cricket League, allowing more female players to gain exposure at an elite level.
In wake of the competition that will be commencing in December, Perth Scorchers have signed three national top-order batters to kick off their line-up.
Former state captain and One Day International star Nicole Bolton and her Southern Stars teammate Elyse Villani have recently been announced in the team. The pair will join explosive national batter Jessica Cameron who is also heading west to join the mighty Scorchers.
Our three newest recruits have tallied up an impressive list of achievements between them.
Jessica Cameron was named Player of the Match in the women’s World Twenty20 Final in 2012. She continued her top form the following year and was awarded Player of the Match in the World Cup Final in 2013. Jess is renowned for being a big hitter, with the ability to hit sixes. Impressive!
Nicole Bolton made a name for herself on the international scene when she became the first Australian woman to make an ODI century on debut for the national team in the 2014 Ashes, hitting 124 from 152 balls.
At 25 years of age, Elyse Villani has represented Australia on 23 occasions (wow!) in Twenty20 matches. After leading all run-scorers in the 2014 World Twenty20 series, she was named as the domestic T20 Player of the Series.
T20 is the fastest growing format of the game. The introduction of the WBBL will help people to recognize that cricket is a sport for everyone, and having men’s and women’s teams under the same brand in each city increases opportunities for kids and gives them a sporting goal to aspire to.
I think some people find cricket a little bit boring to watch, however Big Bash League is such an entertaining and fun form of cricket. Everyone really gets behind their teams and the atmosphere at the games is just unreal. The creation of WBBL is great, I think it will really gain momentum and the girls will be shown a lot of support. Lets get behind them! #OrangeNation
Side note: I have played one game of grade cricket as a fill-in and it was a lot of fun! I learnt very quickly not to try and field a cricket ball flying along the ground with the inside of my foot (like a soccer ball). It ‘tickled’ just a little bit…
Tell us your thoughts on the #WBBL: @TweetPerth @Emmalianapayne
