| T20 Spring Challenge | |
| Country: | Australia |
| Administrator: | Cricket Australia |
| Cricket Format: | Twenty20 |
| First: | 2024 |
| Next: | 2025 |
| Tournament Format: | 4 Matches per Team, then Knockout Finals |
| Participants: | 9 |
| Most Successful: | Hobart Hurricanes (1 title) |
| Most Runs: | Lizelle Lee (252) |
| Most Wickets: | Nicola Hancock (10) |
| Tv: | Seven Network Fox Cricket |
The T20 Spring Challenge is the Australian women's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in Australia. organised by the Cricket Australia. The first edition of the tournament took place in 2024.[1] [2]
The competition began in 2024 and currently features eight Women's Big Bash League teams plus the ACT Meteors competing in a round-robin group stage. The competition runs before the Women's Big Bash League.[3]
In July 2024, Cricket Australia introduces a new domestic Twenty20 Cricket event, called T20 Spring Challenge. that forms part of the Australia domestic cricket season. The league was aimed to make up for the absence of high-profile matches in Australia every year and to expose talented players from Country.[4]
The 2024 tournament is scheduled to start on 11 October and will conclude on 20 October. It will be the first edition of the tournament.
The new nine-team T20 competition – created to ensure there would be no overall reduction in women's domestic games following the shortening of the WBBL – features teams aligned with the eight Big Bash clubs along with the ACT Meteors.
Each team will play four matches before the top four play off in the semi-finals and final.
A 18 regular season games will be played across seven days, before the semi-finals on Saturday, October 19 and the final on Sunday, October 20. All finals games will be held at Cricket NSW's Cricket Central homebase in Silverwater.
The tournament will coincide with Australia's 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup campaign in Bangladesh, meaning the majority of CA contracted players will not be available.
However that, alongside the absence of overseas players, will create opportunities for others to take on key roles, and for fringe WBBL squad members to impress before WBBL 10 kicks off on October 27.[5]
The league's structure is based on the structure of the WBBL.
Initially there are nine teams, with sides playing against each other in a double round robin format, and the four teams finishing with the most points entering the knockout-stage of the competition.
The first season of the league took place from 11 October to 20 October 2024, and featured 21 matches, all held at and in Sydney and Adelaide. Tickets were made available free to women during the first season.
A summary of the most notable statistical records associated with the tournament is provided below:
In July 2024, Fox Sports, announced it had acquired the global media rights for TV and digital broadcasts for the tournament.The initial season of the league is broadcasting in Australia on the Fox Sports TV channel and the Kayo Sports app.[1]
The first season of the competition was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports, in India by Fancode, in the United States and Canada by Willow TV and in South Africa by SuperSports, in New Zealand it is aired by Sky Sport NZ.
| Country/Sub-region | scope=col | Television Broadcaster | scope=col | Streaming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | Afghanistan | |||
| Bangladesh | ||||
| India | Fancode | |||
| Hong Kong | rowspan=2 | |||
| Malaysia | ||||
| Pakistan | ||||
| Singapore | ||||
| Sri Lanka | ||||
| Europe | Netherlands | rowspan=2 | ||
| Ireland | Sky Sports | |||
| United Kingdom | ||||
| Americas | Canada | rowspan=3 | ||
| United States | ||||
| Caribbean | ESPN Caribbean | |||
| Oceania | Australia | Fox Sports | Foxtel Kayo Sports | |
| New Zealand | rowspan=2 | |||
| Papua New Guinea | TVWan | |||
| Africa | Middle East and North Africa | |||
| African Union |