T20 Spring Challenge

T20 Spring Challenge

Countries	Australia
Administrator	Cricket Australia
Format	Twenty20
First edition	2024
Next edition	2025
Tournament format	4 Matches per Team, then Knockout Finals
Number of teams	9
Current champion	Hobart Hurricanes
Most successful	Hobart Hurricanes (1 title)
Most runs	Lizelle Lee (252)
Most wickets	Nicola Hancock (10)
TV	Seven Network Fox Cricket
Website	www.cricket.com.au
Current season

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.

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.

History

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.

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.

Organisation

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.

Teams

Scorchers

Strikers

Heat

Hurricanes

Renegades

Stars

Sixers

Thunder

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Location of teams

Team		Location	Home ground	Coach	Captain	Titles won
	ACT Meteors	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory	Manuka Oval, Canberra	Erin Osborne
	Adelaide Strikers	North Adelaide, South Australia	Karen Rolton Oval	Luke Williams	Tahlia McGrath
	Brisbane Heat	Albion, Queensland	Allan Border Field	Ashley Noffke	Jess Jonassen
	Hobart Hurricanes	Bellerive, Tasmania	Blundstone Arena	Jude Coleman	Elyse Villani	1
	Melbourne Renegades	St Kilda, Victoria	CitiPower Centre	Simon Helmot	Sophie Molineux
	Melbourne Stars	St Kilda, Victoria	CitiPower Centre	Jonathan Batty
	Perth Scorchers	East Perth, Western Australia	WACA Ground	Shelley Nitschke
	Sydney Sixers	Moore Park, New South Wales	North Sydney Oval	Charlotte Edwards
	Sydney Thunder	Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales	Blacktown ISP Oval	Trevor Griffin

Venues

Australia
Adelaide	Adelaide Sydney	Sydney
Karen Rolton Oval, Adelaide		North Sydney Oval, Sydney	Cricket Central, Sydney	Allan Border Oval, Mosman, Sydney

Tournament seasons and results

Finals

Season	Winner	Winning margin	Runner-up	Final venue	Player of the season
2024	Hobart Hurricanes	Hobart Hurricanes won by 5 wickets Scorecard	Brisbane Heat	Cricket Central, Sydney

Records and statistics

A summary of the most notable statistical records associated with the tournament is provided below:

Batting Records
Most runs	Lizelle Lee	252
Highest score	Madeline Penna	113
Highest partnership	Anika Learoyd & Tahlia Wilson	137
Most fours	Lizelle Lee	36
Most sixes	Laura Harris, Lizelle Lee	9
Most fifties	Lizelle Lee, Tahlia Wilson	2
Most hundreds	Laura Harris, Lizelle Lee, Madeline Penna	1
Bowling Records
Most wickets	Nicola Hancock	10
Best bowling figures	Amanda-Jade Wellington	4/18
Fielding
Most dismissals (wicket-keeper)	Georgia Redmayne	7
Most catches (fielder)	Laura Harris	6
Team records
Highest total	Sydney Thunder	183/3
Lowest total	ACT Metors	93/10

• Source: ESPNcricinfo

Broadcasting

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.

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.

Broadcasters for the T20 Spring Challenge

Region	Country/Sub-region	Television Broadcaster	Streaming
Asia	Afghanistan	Ariana Television	—
	Bangladesh
	India		Fancode
	Hong Kong	Astro Cricket	—
	Malaysia
	Pakistan	PTV Sports Ten Sports
	Singapore	StarHub	—
	Sri Lanka
Europe	Netherlands		—
	Ireland	Sky Sports
	United Kingdom
Americas	Canada	Willow	—
	United States
	Caribbean	ESPN Caribbean
Oceania	Australia	Fox Sports	Foxtel Kayo Sports
	New Zealand	Sky Sport NZ	—
	Papua New Guinea	TVWan
Africa	Middle East and North Africa
	African Union	Super Sport	—