Women's regional hub structure will have competitive cricket in 2020, ECB confirm

The Cricketer understands the schedule for the stop-gap version of the competition could begin as early as the August bank holiday weekend, though there is no confirmation from the governing body

A version of the new women's regional hub competition will take place in England and Wales in 2020 despite the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The ECB confirmed on Friday that the eight new teams will feature in a regionalised 50-over tournament later this year, which will take the form of two groups of four sides.

The Cricketer understands the schedule for the stop-gap version of the competition could begin as early as the August bank holiday weekend, though there is no confirmation from the governing body.

The fixture list is expected to be released alongside the T20 Blast calendar for men in early to mid-August.

This year was supposed to see a major step towards the professionalisation of women's cricket in England and Wales.

As part of the ECB's women's and girls' action plan, 40 professional contracts were due to be awarded in April, spread across the new eight-hub network.

Those full-time deals had to be delayed as a result of the coronavirus crisis, but 25 players were handed retainer deals - worth around £1,000 a month - in June, and at the time the ECB committed to providing some sort of domestic competition this year.

^{The new women's regional hub competition will begin in 2020}

They have followed through on that pledge, with a short tournament - in which the two top-placed sides in each group face off in a final - now guaranteed.

ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said: "There has been a strong determination across the game to play men’s and women’s domestic cricket his summer and the fact that we will owes to the significant work and collaboration across the county network.

"The efforts to deliver a new one-off men’s and women’s competition, in addition to a shortened Vitality Blast, to meet the unprecedented requirements of playing professional cricket during a pandemic have been remarkable.

"I am pleased that we have been able to schedule women’s domestic cricket and ensure competitive cricket following last month’s confirmation of the first cohort of players on Regional Retainer contracts.

"We will need to remain agile to the challenges that will await us during the shortened domestic season with the health and wellbeing of our players, staff, officials and fans continuing to be our first priority."