Australian cricket captain Meg Lanning will play for the Melbourne Stars in the inaugural season of the Women's Big Bash League, according to the AAP. The Twenty20 competition, launched on Friday in Sydney, begins in December and will replicate the men's Big Bash League "with eight teams across six states." Play will start on Dec. 5 "with a clash between the Brisbane Heat and Stars," before ending with the final on Jan. 24. The decision to take the women's Twenty20 game onto the national stage comes as Cricket Australia "attempts to grow the women's game at amateur and professional levels." The sport's organizing body intends to invest an additional A$600,000 ($446,800) into wages for female cricketers (AAP, 7/10). In Sydney, Carly Adno wrote it may "never be as lucrative as the men's edition," but the launch of the WBBL is "several strides in the right direction." Australia's top female cricketers are "already among the highest paid sportswomen in the country." But CA's "significant investment in the WBBL," with the aim to further professionalize women’s cricket, "will see money more evenly distributed among the players." An added A$600,000 in wages takes the total women's payment fund to A$2.26M ($1.68M), allowing all players who get signed up for the WBBL to receive retainers of between A$3,000 ($2,230) and A$10,000 ($7,450) (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 7/10).
LEAP FORWARD: In Sydney, Tom Decent wrote Ellyse Perry of the Sydney Sixers said that the launch of the WBBL is the "biggest leap forward for women in Australian cricket history." When asked if it was the "most significant announcement ever" for Australia's female cricketers, she said, "Yeah, absolutely. To set up what will probably be the premier women's cricket competition in the world, to have it here in Australia and to see how much emphasis has been placed on it and how much has been invested into it is really wonderful. It's exciting for the way forward, not just for women's cricket, but for women's sport." A "major coup for the tournament" is Network Ten's announcement it will broadcast eight matches, including the final, on Channel One before men's BBL matches. Rene Farrell of the Sydney Thunder said, "It [playing on TV] was always the dream as a kid playing in the backyard with my big brother." Failure to gain exposure on national TV "has been the Achilles heel of women's sport, but with Channel Ten's involvement, the WBBL will be able to emulate the Big Bash's ability to shine a light on some of the country's most prodigious young cricketers" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 7/10).
