The Cricketer provides all the information you need ahead of the eighth edition of the premier T20 competition...
The eighth edition of the Women's Big Bash League, an eight-team T20 competition run by Cricket Australia.
WBBL 08 starts on October 13 with Brisbane Heat hosting Sydney Sixers at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay. The group stage runs until November 20, with the final scheduled for November 27.
After two Covid-affected campaigns, the WBBL returns to a nationwide format with the eight sides facing each other in a genuine home and away round robin.
The side top after the entire schedule is complete qualifies directly for the final. An Eliminator is held between the teams in third and fourth to determine who goes through to the Challenger, to battle with the side who ended second.
Whoever prevails in that clash meets the group winner at their home ground to decide the 2022-23 champion.
This season sees the introduction of DRS for the 24 WBBL fixtures shown on Seven and Foxtel, including the final. The remaining 35 WBBL matches will be produced using live-stream technology which does not support DRS.
Each team will get one unsuccessful review per innings, with the fielding team captain or batter receiving 15 seconds to make the call, with match officials having access to Ultra Edge and ball-tracking information.
Power Surge has also been introduced, which sees the six-over powerplay reduced to four and the two remaining sets of six balls able to be deployed anywhere between the 11th and 20th overs by the batting team.
Scorchers start WBBL 08 as the defending champions (Paul Kane/Getty Images)
As with the men's Big Bash League, there are eight teams involved in WBBL 08: Adelaide Strikers, Brisbane Heat, Hobart Hurricanes, Melbourne Renegades, Melbourne Stars, Perth Scorchers, Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder.
Sydney Sixers, Sydney Thunder and Brisbane Heat are the most successful WBBL sides, having won two titles each.
Sixers played in all of the first four finals, winning in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Thunder were victorious in the inaugural edition in 2015-16 and then in 2020 when they overcame Melbourne Stars.
Heat were back-to-back winners in 2018-19 and later in 2019 when the competition was first given its own window in the Australian calendar.
Holders Perth Scorchers, beaten four years ago by the Sixers, broke their duck last season by beating Adelaide Strikers.
Regrettably, it was another season dominated by Covid-19. No matches took place in New South Wales and Victoria, meaning no home games for the sides from Melbourne and Sydney.
The tournament was split between Tasmania for the first 20 matches, with the remainder of the schedule being hosted in Perth, Launceston, Adelaide and Mackay.
Eight matches in the first four rounds were lost to rain in what was a heavily-disrupted start to the competition.
But once it got going in earnest, Sophie Devine's Scorchers laid down a marker with six wins in their last eight group games to seal the top spot and a place in the final.
Renegades trailed them by just two points but gave up first place after losing their final two games. Heat and Strikers joined them in the last four.
Kate Mack's unbeaten half-century helped Strikers ease past Heat by eight wickets at the Adelaide Oval and they took that form into a one-sided Challenger, who they won by nine wickets. Renegades carried their group form into the game, making 83 for 8 from their 20 overs batting first.
A record 15,511 crowd for a stand-alone WBBL fixture saw Scorchers bat first in the final and make 146 for 5, with Devine top-scoring with 35 and Marizanne Kapp adding 31 from 23 balls.
Early wickets in the Strikers' chase pegged them back. Tahlia McGrath and Laura Wolvaardt put on 65 for the third wicket but their dismissals in the space of six deliveries to Taneale Peschel and Heather Graham all but ended their hopes.
Needing 36 from the final three overs, Scorchers only conceded one boundary to secure a 12-run success.
Lizelle Lee is among the stand-out overseas players on show (Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
More than 20 foreign stars have signed up for the eighth edition of the WBBL.
Crucially, there are three Indian representatives. Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues return to the competition with Renegades and Stars, while Pooja Vastrakar makes her tournament debut with Brisbane Heat.
All three will be delayed in arriving due to their participation in the Asia Cup.
New Zealand have six players involved. Sophie Devine is back with Scorchers alongside Maddy Green. Amelia and Jess Kerr are at Brisbane Heat and Suzie Bates is braced for her third spell at a WBBL side at Sixers.
Hayley Jensen is back with the Hurricanes as an injury replacement for Issy Wong.
Though Heather Knight is ruled out with injury, England have a strong contingent heading for Australia. Alice Capsey and Lauren Winfield-Hill are bound for Stars, Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont will play for Thunder, while Sophie Ecclestone and Danni Wyatt are signed up for stints at Sixers and Heat.
From South Africa, Lizelle Lee has joined Hobart Hurricanes alongside Mignon du Preez, Shabnim Ismail will play for Renegades and Marizanne Kapp is back with Scorchers. Chloe Tryon has been enlisted to beef up the batting at Thunder.
Completing the overseas ranks are West Indians Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin at Strikers and Renegades.
The WBBL is back to a country-wide competition (Graham Denholm/Getty Images)
Viewers in the UK can watch the action on Sky Sports Cricket, with selected matches also being shown on Sky Sports Main Event.
In Australia, all 59 matches will be available to watch for free on either the Seven Network of cricket.com.au. Twenty-four of those will be televised on Seven and simulcast on Fostel, where the entire tournament is available.
The remaining games will be shown on Foxtel and Kayo Sports. ABC Radio will also carry live commentary of matches.
Sky Sport New Zealand will broadcast the tournament in New Zealand.
In India, the Sony Sports Network will show the competition with streaming available via Sony LIV.
Fans in South Africa will be able to tune into WBBL 08 on SuperSport.
Further broadcast details will be confirmed when they become available.
Posted by Vincent Gilio on 14/10/2022 at 23:31
Are any games of the WBBL08 tournament going to be broadcasted on Channel 7 this season, and if so, when?
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