The 2024 Women’s Big Bash League began on Sunday. The competition features eight teams and will run until 1 December. This year’s season has been shortened to bring it in line with the men’s Big Bash league.
2024 Women’s Big Bash League
The Big Bash is Twenty20 cricket, which means each team has 20 overs to score as many runs as possible. This shortened format of cricket tends to make the game more exciting as batters will be more aggressive and inclined to take risks to score runs within the limited number of balls.
The regular season runs until 24 November, then there’s a week of finals before the title decider on 1 December. Each team will play ten games during the regular season, meeting every team at least once and three teams twice. The top four teams will advance to the finals. The team on top of the table automatically earns a spot in the final. Third and fourth place will play each other to determine who’ll face off against second place in a match to determine the other finalist.
Who is the favourite to win?
The Adelaide Strikers won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. This season, they’re seeking to become the first team in the competition to win three titles. In 2023, the Strikers beat the Brisbane Heat in the final by just three runs. The Heat, who won two consecutive titles in the fourth and fifth editions of the competition in 2019/20, will also be hungry to return to this year’s final and win a third title.
The competition is still wide open, with Australia and the world’s top women’s cricketers making up the rosters of all the teams in the competition.
How about the men’s competition?
The men’s BBL will start on 15 December and run through to the final on 27 January.
How can I watch?
23 of the 43 games this season will be on free-to-air TV on Channel 7. All matches will be on Kayo and Foxtel.
