Australia’s Women’s National Cricket League will see a slightly revamped schuedule with each team playing eight matches instead of six, Cricket Australia announced on Tuesday (July 30). Alyssa Healy, New South Wales captain, is delighted by the decision, calling it a ‘step in the right direction’.
"It's something the players have been pushing for, for a period of time since the number of games decreased a little while ago," Healy told cricket.com.au.
"It's one of our biggest domestic competitions and we want to make sure if remains really strong, so the addition of a couple of extra games will give a lot of the younger players throughout our country a good opportunity to play good quality cricket.”
While it is nowhere near the number of games Healy used to play as a youngster growing up— two rounds of six games each— she says the increased number is a good start.
“I’d love to see it get back to (a full home-and-away season), some of my best memories of when I first started playing for the Breakers was that very thing."
The 2019-20 WNCL season begins on September 21, with four days of matches to be played in Brisbane and Adelaide. Each team will play twice.
The remaining matches will be scheduled through January and February, following the completion of the Women’s Big Bash League, and ahead of Australia’s pre T20 World Cup tri-series against India and England.
A hectic international schedule means that it is likely Australia’s international superstars will miss the opening rounds of the competition since they will be involved in the team’s tour of the West Indies. They will however, be available for the second round of matches ahead of the World Cup.
"It's the best place for our younger players, and older players as well, to learn about their games and develop so we need to make sure that competition stays strong," Healy said.
The team finishing first and second on the points table will play the final on February 16.
With the 2021 50-over World Cup to be played in New Zealand, this expansion of matches in the domestic format comes at a poignant juncture as it will enable the players to be prepared for the mega event. It will also give young players more of an opportunity to showcase their skills in the absence of some of the more established players.
"It's going to create depth for our Australian team," said Healy. "We're not too far out from a one-day World Cup and there's a lot of young players who are desperate for opportunities to show what they can do.”
While both Australia and England have a fully professional international setup, the 2019 Ashes has made clear how far ahead Australia have surged. The former’s semi-professional set-up at the state level with each of the seven teams having 14 contracted players, means there is a marked difference in the depth of readily available resources. As England run around in circles looking for an answer in the same basket, Australia have found multiple options to get the job done each time.
"I guess it speaks volumes for how much our team has developed over the last six months and also how important our professional set-up is back home,” said Perry, in an attempt to explain Australia’s dominance through the series. "It's not just the 15 girls here, there's also the other 13 players (who were on the Australia A tour) and the domestic players back home who are literally training all year round now. That's been the case for a couple of years and I think it's starting to really show up and pay dividends."
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