Cricket NSW has applauded today’s confirmation of a new national women’s T20 competition that will create an exciting lead-up to the WBBL season, while increasing wages and playing opportunities for domestic players.

Cricket Australia outlined details of the new competition that will feature teams representing WBBL clubs, including the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder.

The competition will be contested immediately before the Weber WBBL|10 season with the teams playing four matches across two cities. The four top teams at the end of the regular season will play off in the semi-finals and final.

The new competition comes as the WBBL|10 season is shortened to 40 games, plus three finals, to optimise scheduling and will create more high performance opportunities for female players, while significantly increasing payments.

Cricket NSW CEO Lee Germon said the new competition will benefit Australian Cricket holistically, with development opportunities nationwide a boost for the ongoing success of the Australian Women’s Team.

“We applaud Cricket Australia, the Australian Cricketers’ Association and other stakeholders on this announcement that will effectively provide more playing opportunities and payments to more players as we move closer towards full-time professionalism, further building cricket’s position as a leading sport for women and girls,” Germon said.

“Cricket NSW has always been committed to the success of the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder and the tournament announced today will help both of our clubs in their quest for WBBL success and to produce players for Australia.

“That enhanced player pathway is in the best interests of Australian Cricket and provides further opportunity for the continued success of our national women’s teams.”

The inception of the new competition means the average payment for state contracted players will rise to $163,000 making women’s cricket easily the best paid women’s domestic team sport in Australia.

This comes after significant increases in CA women’s contracts (increased by 25%) and the WBBL salary cap (doubled to more than $732,00 per-season) in the latest MOU.

Today’s announcement also triggers the opening of State contracting for female domestic players.