The Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup (WT20) was the premier domestic women's Twenty20 cricket competition in Australia. Beginning in 2007 as a series of exhibition matches, the first official tournament took place during the summer of 2009–10. All seven state and territory representative teams from its 50-over counterpart, the pre-existing Women's National Cricket League, participated in the WT20's formal six-year span. The competition was replaced by the Women's Big Bash League in 2015.
The Victorian Spirit were the most successful team, having managed to claim three titles in a row. The New South Wales Breakers finished on top of the ladder at the conclusion of every regular season, but they lost three consecutive championship deciders against Victoria before eventually winning two titles of their own. The Queensland Fire also won one title.
Tournament structure After experimenting with an informal five-match exhibition structure for each of its first two editions, Cricket Australia delivered a fully-fledged competition for the 2009–10 season which was made up of a single round-robin before a final between the two highest-ranked teams. For 2010–11 and onward, the structure of the tournament was expanded to twelve rounds and a final (or, in the case of the 2013–14 edition, a finals series featuring the four highest-ranked teams) to determine each season's champion.
The competition was typically scheduled alongside, and interspersed with, the Women's National Cricket League as each team would draw from the same squad for both formats. In what was promoted as an "unprecedented" boost to the visibility of the women's game, the 2014–15 season featured eight fixtures paired as double-headers with the men's Big Bash League. This included the championship decider which was also broadcast live and nationally on free-to-air network Ten.
On 19 February 2015, Cricket Australia announced that the competition would be replaced by the Women's Big Bash League. The decision was made in an attempt to further heighten the profile and professionalism of elite-level women's cricket, thereby ideally helping to grow grassroots participation and viewership of the game among girls and women across the country.
Teams
The Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup featured the same seven teams that competed in the Women's National Cricket League from the corresponding period of 2009 to 2015. In addition to each team's primary ground, matches were also played at a wide variety of alternate and boutique venues.
Team Nickname Home ground Established Titles won Australian Capital Territory Meteors Manuka Oval 2009 0 New South Wales Breakers Sydney Cricket Ground 1996 2 Queensland Fire The Gabba 1996 1 South Australia Scorpions Adelaide Oval 1996 0 Tasmania Roar Bellerive Oval 2009 0 Victoria Spirit Melbourne Cricket Ground 1996 3 Western Australia Fury WACA Ground 1996 0
Tournament results
Season summaries Season Champions Most runs Most wickets Player of the Season Sources 2009–10 Victoria Leah Poulton (NSW) – 201 Sarah Elliott (VIC) – 13 Alex Blackwell (NSW) 2010–11 Victoria Karen Rolton (SA) – 440 Renee Chappell (WA) – 17 Karen Rolton (SA) 2011–12 Victoria Melissa Bulow (QLD) – 505 Jemma Barsby (QLD) – 18 Meg Lanning (VIC) 2012–13 New South Wales Alex Blackwell (NSW) – 377 Sthalekar (NSW), Ebsary (SA) – 16 Jenny Wallace (WA) 2013–14 Queensland Elyse Villani (VIC) – 498 Aley (NSW), Pike (QLD) – 18 Elyse Villani (VIC) 2014–15 New South Wales Alex Blackwell (NSW) – 451 Molly Strano (VIC) – 22 Heather Knight (TAS)
Final summaries Final 1st Innings 2nd Innings ResultPlayer of the Final Venue 2009–10 Victoria5/127 (20 overs) New South Wales75 (16 overs) Victoria won by 52 runsScorecardClea Smith(Victoria)Adelaide OvalAdelaide, SA 2010–11 Victoria5/161 (20 overs) New South Wales9/157 (20 overs) Victoria won by 4 runsScorecardMeg Lanning(Victoria)Adelaide OvalAdelaide, SA 2011–12 Victoria7/143 (20 overs) New South Wales9/134 (20 overs) Victoria won by 9 runsScorecardDanielle Wyatt(Victoria)Docklands StadiumMelbourne, VIC 2012–13 Western Australia5/126 (20 overs) New South Wales5/130 (19.2 overs) New South Wales won by 5 wicketsScorecardAlex Blackwell(New South Wales)WACA GroundPerth, WA 2013–14 Australian Capital Territory 7/107 (20 overs) Queensland3/108 (14.2 overs) Queensland won by 7 wicketsScorecardDelissa Kimmince(Queensland)WACA GroundPerth, WA 2014–15 New South Wales3/175 (20 overs) Victoria8/124 (20 overs) New South Wales won by 51 runsScorecardAlex Blackwell(New South Wales)Manuka OvalCanberra, ACT
Team performance Team 4th (RU)New South Wales1st (RU)1st (RU)1st (RU)1st (SF)QueenslandSouth AustraliaTasmaniaVictoria2nd (SF)2nd (RU)Western Australia2nd (RU) Source:
Legend C = Champions; RU = Runners-up; SF = Semi-finalists; 1st = Ladder position after regular season
Statistics Most runs Player (Team)RunsHSAveSRMeg Lanning (VIC)666620878240.13123.86Leah Poulton (NSW)68372011103*34.67122.85Alex Blackwell (NSW)6460191599*54.71119.46Elyse Villani (VIC)6564158479*31.06107.83Lauren Ebsary (WA, SA)6563151485*30.28105.80
Most wickets Player (Team)OversAveEconJemma Barsby (QLD)60187.56217.895.90Erin Osborne (NSW)602046117.775.31Sarah Coyte (NSW)591825419.195.69Briana Binch (VIC)65182.15420.546.09Sharon Millanta (NSW)57162.34918.315.52
References
External links