Cricket Australia believes the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) continues to hold its position as the leading domestic women’s T20 competition despite the rapid growth of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and The Hundred. The confidence comes as the schedule for the 2026-27 season has been unveiled, with adjustments designed to improve the competition’s visibility, including more matches across the Friday-to-Sunday window and fewer morning fixtures and neutral venue games.
The evolving landscape of women’s franchise cricket has created three distinct windows on the global calendar, with the WPL now staged in January, The Hundred taking place during July and August, and the WBBL running from late October into early December. While rival tournaments continue to offer increasingly lucrative player contracts, Cricket Australia maintains that the Australian competition continues to provide the highest standard of cricket.
Speaking at the launch of the 2026-27 WBBL season, Alistair Dobson, Executive General Manager, Big Bash Leagues, said: “We watch closely and work closely with both the Hundred and the WPL.”
He added: “Each bring different strengths. You can see that just the scale of the WPL in India, like cricket generally, is significant. I think from a WBBL perspective, it still prides itself on being the toughest comp with the best, the highest standard and really the place for players to test themselves.”
Dobson also acknowledged the progress made by England’s domestic competition while maintaining that the WBBL continues to occupy a unique place within the women’s game. He said: “And then we love watching the Hundred and particularly what they’ve been able to do in some of the biggest stadiums in the UK. So I think each of the three leagues have a unique proposition. We still believe the WBBL is the best of all of them, but it’s good to have competition. And I think we’re in different windows, so there’s less conflict or competition around [the] window.”
Season launch comes amid franchise uncertainty
The new campaign will begin with a Melbourne double-header featuring the Renegades and Stars at Junction Oval, although uncertainty remains over the long-term future of the two clubs following Cricket Victoria’s proposal to merge operations and sell one of the WBBL licences.
Addressing the speculation, Dobson said: “First thing I’d say is nothing’s certain, nothing’s decided or definitive in terms of the future of those clubs or any of our clubs. A lot of work going on to establish the best model and set up for the Big Bash going forward. That’s been clearly a topic of lots of discussion. Our eyes are firmly focused on this season with those two clubs and, from a playing perspective, their lists are in good shape.”
He added: “Obviously, the Junction Oval is becoming an even better venue for WBBL. There’s been some different considerations this year and different sort of type of work going on with those clubs, but as we get into the start of the WBBL, our optimism around those clubs is high. As you can see by scheduling them on day one of the competition to host games, that sort of shows where we feel those clubs will be at come the start of the season.”
Scheduling strategy reflects club priorities
The 2026-27 schedule also reflects a venue-by-venue approach rather than a uniform model across the league. Melbourne’s clubs will again play their home fixtures at Junction Oval instead of the MCG, while Adelaide Oval remains part of the schedule as the Adelaide Strikers continue to prioritise playing at their traditional home venue following strong supporter demand and previous success there.
The WBBL season will begin on 29 October before concluding with the final on 5 December, following the Knockout and Challenger on 1 and 3 December respectively.
The #WBBL12 fixture has landed! 🥳
More on the Big Bash App 📲 pic.twitter.com/rxoqHV8wGl
— Weber Women's Big Bash League (@WBBL) July 2, 2026
Financial scale highlights growing competition
The expanding global women’s franchise ecosystem has also significantly altered the financial landscape of the sport. During this year’s The Hundred draft, Australian batter Beth Mooney secured a deal worth AU$400,000 (approx. US$280K), more than three times the top WBBL overseas contract value.
In comparison, the highest-paid overseas players in the WBBL draft earn up to AU$110,000 (approx. US$77K), highlighting the widening gap in franchise cricket economics despite Cricket Australia’s positioning of the WBBL as the benchmark competition.
With women’s franchise cricket becoming increasingly competitive across multiple markets, Cricket Australia’s position remains that the WBBL’s quality of cricket, established calendar window and competitive depth continue to differentiate it from the growing number of elite global competitions.
