For the women, at least, a new-look T20 tournament is about to be launched without much argument. At Headingley on Saturday the Diamonds (that’s Yorkshire) take on the Lightning (the Loughborough-based team) in the first match of the Kia Super League. Then on Sunday it is the turn of Western Storm to clash with the Thunder (of Lancashire) and the Southern Vipers to tangle with the Surrey Stars. How relatively easy it has been for the women, freed from the constraints of more than a century of history and tradition, to agree upon a new competition, which might give the game a boost in this country.
In Australia the women’s T20 league, which was allied to the men’s Big Bash with matches at the same venues on the same day, was deemed to be a great success with terrestrial TV coverage and encouraging numbers in the stands. In England the expectations among the women are sensibly realistic. Toes are about to be extended into the water but they do not expect to rival the Australian model from the start.
Clare Connor, the director of women’s cricket, outlines the evolution of the Super League. “We needed something that would be marketable and attract fans and the best in the world, plus create a chance for the next-best players here to compete with the best and push their case for England.”
Each team will contain three or four England players, three from overseas, including the charismatic Australian all‑rounder Ellyse Perry, but sadly not their captain, Meg Lanning, who has had to withdraw through injury, plus the best of the rest in the various areas. The T20 World Cup winners, West Indies, are represented with their captain, Stafanie Taylor, playing for Western Storm, while Deandra Dottin is bound to add a bit of spark to the Thunder.
“The budget is £3m over four years,” Connor said. “Everyone is receiving match fees. We have our centrally contracted players, of course, and the overseas players get an overall fee to come over and compete but the players get a match fee which is the same whether it’s Charlotte Edwards or a 19-year-old on the talent pathway. There is prize money for the first time in domestic women’s competition.”
To watch the games it is necessary to go to the grounds since it will not be available on television, in part because there remains some uncertainty about the quality of the product. However, it will be possible to listen to seven matches, plus the finals day at Chelmsford on 21 August, on BBC’s Test Match Special. “Sky are not showing live ball by ball,” Connor said, “but that was our decision in year one because we wanted to prove the concept and quality before putting it on TV.”
For those lamenting the enforced retirement of the former national captain Edwards, there is the chance to see her playing for the Vipers. “It’s come at a really good time for me,” she said. “As soon as I retired from England I knew this was coming up and it’s kept me training and kept my appetite for the game. I played my first domestic season in Australia two winters ago and I came back and said to Clare [Connor] that we need to put something in place. If you look at the six teams on paper they are so evenly matched and I think the ECB have done the right thing in the first years by selecting the teams.”
No doubt Edwards, who captains the Vipers, will score lots of runs but she is not in venomous mood. She stresses that she is not driven by the thought of making a point to England. “Initially I might have thought that but now it’s not really my focus. I have moved on and for the right reasons. Now I want to just enjoy the next couple of years playing domestic cricket all over the world. I know the door is shut, bolted top and bottom, and they have made it very clear so I have moved on.” So, too, has the women’s game, starting on Saturday.
KIA Super League schedule
Sat 30 Jul Yorkshire Diamonds v Loughborough Lightning, Headingley, 2.30pm
Sun 31 Jul Western Storm v Lancashire Thunder, Taunton, 2.30pm;
Southern Vipers v Surrey Stars, Rose Bowl, 2pm
Wed 3 Aug Loughborough Lightning v Lancashire Thunder, Haselgrave, 4.30pm
Thu 4 Aug Surrey Stars v Yorkshire Diamonds, The Oval, 6.30pm
Fri 5 Aug Lancashire Thunder v Southern Vipers, Blackpool CC, 2.30pm;
Loughborough Lightning v Western Storm, Haselgrave, 4.30pm
Sun 7 Aug Western Storm v Surrey Stars, Bristol, 2.30pm
Mon 8 Aug Southern Vipers v Yorkshire Diamonds, Rose Bowl Nursery Ground, 2pm
Tues 9 Aug Surrey Stars v Lancashire Thunder, Guildford, 2.30pm
Fri 12 Aug Lancashire Thunder v Yorkshire Diamonds, Old Trafford, 6pm; Loughborough Lightning v Surrey Stars, Haselgrave, 4.30pm;
Southern Vipers v Western Storm, Taunton, 5.30pm
Sun 14 Aug Southern Vipers v Loughborough Lightning, 2pm, Rose Bowl;
Yorkshire Diamonds v Western Storm, Headingley, 2.30pm.
