September 6, 2024

Top Women’s Teams to Compete in Blast and One Day Cup Starting 2025

Starting next season, England’s top women’s cricket teams will compete in new formats similar to the men’s county competitions. The Charlotte Edwards Cup and Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, which have been the main women’s T20 and 50-over tournaments since 2020, will be replaced by versions of the Vitality Blast and Metro Bank One-Day Cup.

In this new setup, the Metro Bank One-Day Cup will still feature the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy as its prize. This change aims to align the women’s domestic competitions more closely with those of their male counterparts, potentially allowing for some joint fixtures where men’s and women’s teams from the same clubs play together. This overhaul, announced by the ECB in February, also includes increased investment from sponsors Vitality and Metro Bank to support the women’s game.

The women’s domestic cricket competitions in England will now mirror those of the men. The women’s Vitality Blast will end with a Finals Day, just like the men’s version. Both the men’s and women’s Metro Bank One-Day Cups will feature two semi-finals and a final.

Metro Bank One-Day Cup and Women’s Blast Teams Announced; Future Expansion and Funding Plans Revealed

In the Metro Bank One-Day Cup, eight teams will compete: Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire, Somerset, Surrey, Warwickshire, and The Blaze (representing Nottinghamshire). These teams were all given Tier 1 status under the new structure.

For the women’s Blast, the eight teams are Birmingham Bears (representing Warwickshire), Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire Thunder, Somerset, Surrey, and The Blaze.

From 2026, the top-tier women’s competitions will expand to include Yorkshire, and Glamorgan will join from 2027. In 2025, a new knockout cup competition will involve teams from all three tiers, allowing players from lower tiers to face off against higher-ranked teams.

In 2025, Tier 2 will include Derbyshire, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Middlesex, Sussex, Worcestershire, and Yorkshire.

Beth Barrett-Wild, ECB director of the women’s professional game, said: “A big driver for the reorganisation of women’s professional cricket has been to enable us to better use the leverage and existing scale of men’s county cricket to accelerate fan base growth for our women’s teams and players. Looking ahead to the 2025 season, we’re therefore really excited to fully align our men’s and women’s domestic white-ball competitions for the first time.”

“As we have seen through the Hundred and alignment of our England Men’s and England Women’s teams, we believe that by putting our men’s and women’s competitions and players on the same platform we can exponentially increase the reach of the women’s domestic game and intensify the depth of feeling fans have for our women’s teams moving forwards.”

Starting in 2027, £8 million in new funding will be invested annually into women’s domestic cricket, boosting the total annual investment to around £19 million. The ECB hopes this increased funding will lead to an 80% rise in the number of professional female players in England and Wales by 2029. Under the new structure, counties will handle player salaries.

Wolvaardt and Jansen Shine at CSA Annual Awards

At the CSA Annual Awards, Laura Wolvaardt, the captain of South Africa’s women’s cricket team, had an outstanding night, winning five awards. She was named Women’s Player of the Year for her impressive 2023-24 season, where she led the team in runs across both ODIs and T20Is. Wolvaardt also earned the titles of Women’s ODI Player of the Year and Women’s T20I Player of the Year. Additionally, she won both the Players’ Player of the Year and Fans’ Player of the Year awards.

On the men’s side, Quinton de Kock was honored as the ODI Player of the Year, and Reeza Hendricks received the T20I Player of the Year award. Marco Jansen was named Men’s Player of the Year for his all-round performance, including 17 wickets at the ODI World Cup and notable contributions in the Boxing Day Test against India.

The CSA Annual Awards recognize achievements from May 1, 2023, to April 30, 2024. Performances from June’s Men’s T20 World Cup and the Test and T20I series in the West Indies will be considered for next year’s awards. The ceremony is held in September instead of May to ensure all nationally contracted players, who are often busy with the IPL in May, can attend.

During this period, South Africa played only four Tests—two against India and two with a second-string team in New Zealand. This made selecting the Test Player of the Year challenging. David Bedingham, who performed well with scores of 56, 87, and 110, was honored as Test Player of the Year and also named International Newcomer of the Year.

In white-ball cricket, Quinton de Kock, who has retired from 50-over cricket, was named ODI Player of the Year for his four centuries at the 2023 World Cup. Reeza Hendricks won the T20I Player of the Year award, being the only South African to score a half-century during the period (excluding the T20 World Cup). Keshav Maharaj, who made a remarkable comeback from an Achilles injury, was voted Players’ Player of the Year by his peers.

Top Domestic Cricket Awards Celebrate Female and Male Achievements

Two major awards went to female cricketers this year: the Best Delivery Fuelled by KFC and the Makhaya Ntini Power of Cricket Award. Marizanne Kapp won the Best Delivery award for her inswinger that bowled out Beth Mooney during South Africa’s first ODI victory over Australia. Masabata Klaas received the Makhaya Ntini Award for her remarkable journey in cricket, which recognizes players who have overcome significant challenges. This is the first time this award has been given to a female cricketer.

Klaas faced many difficulties, including being a single mother after having her daughter Rethabile in 2013, just before women’s cricket in South Africa became professional. Despite taking a three-year break from the sport, with support from her mother, Paulinah, she made a successful return. Klaas played a crucial role in South Africa’s qualification for the 2021 50-over World Cup and became only the 10th female bowler to take a hat-trick in 2019 against Pakistan. She is currently seventh on South Africa’s all-time ODI wicket-takers list and sixth in T20Is. Klaas recently shared her experiences on thewicketinsider Powerplay podcast and discussed her role as a mentor to other players.

In domestic cricket, several players received top honors for their performances this season. Legspinner Nqabayomzi Peter, who led the Lions to victory in the CSA T20 Cup and made his international debut in June, was named both the Men’s Domestic Newcomer of the Season and T20 Challenge Player of the Season. Wiaan Mulder, an all-rounder for the Lions who was the third-highest run-scorer and took 16 wickets in the four-day first-class competition, was awarded Four-Day Domestic Player of the Season.

Western Province all-rounder Mihlali Mpongwana, who was the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the One-Day Cup, won the One-Day Domestic Player of the Season award. In the women’s domestic competition, left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba was named Women’s One-Day Player of the Season, while Tazmin Brits earned the Women’s T20 Player of the Season award for being the top run-scorer with three centuries.