Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), Australia’s T20 tournament, has been entirely shifted to Sydney as Cricket Australia’s head of Big Bash Leagues Alistair Dobson proclaimed amid COVID-19 challenges.
Earlier, six cities were due to host the WBBL but because of the coronavirus-enforced travel restrictions, due to the ongoing coronavirus, Cricket Australia (CA) has decided, on Friday, to organize the event in one venue.
Overall, 59 games will be during the women’s premier domestic tournament’s. Also, the league has been pushed one week later. Earlier, it was scheduled to start on Oct 17 but now it will commence from Oct 25.
WBBL 2020 is the sixth season:
CA is organising the sixth season of the league in collaboration with the New South Wales government (NSW). Alistair Dobson showed his gratitude for the NSW government to work together. He said that a lot of effort has been put into organizing the full-fledged league during the challenging situation.
“We want to thank the NSW Government for their willingness to work together to deliver the WBBL|06 competition in Sydney,” Dobson said in a statement.
“We are incredibly proud to deliver a full season of rebel WBBL|06 and would like to thank the NSW Government, our partners States & Territories Associations, the Australian Cricketers’ Association as well as- in particular Cricket NSW – for rallying together at this challenging time to deliver a safe and successful tournament,” he added.
Australian sports minister Geoff Lee said that the hosting of WBBL in Sydney would encourage the young girls to play the game.
“This competition continues to grow from strength to strength. The quality of the talent is on the rise and the action is thrilling to watch,” said Lee.
“What stands out most is the great example these women are setting to young girls aspiring to play the game of cricket. I can’t wait to watch the best walkout for the Women’s Big Bash League in Sydney,” he added.
Meanwhile, Indian batswoman will miss the WBBL because its schedule is clashing with the Women’s T20 Challange organised by BCCI in the UAE. Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues are some Indian cricketers who went on to fetch contract for WBBL.