New schedule, village confirmed for WBBL|06

The revamped schedule for this year’s Rebel WBBL has been confirmed, with five Sydney venues to host a full 59-game season starting on October 25.

Earlier this month, it was announced the sixth edition of the WBBL would be played entirely in a Sydney hub, after COVID-19 biosecurity and travel restrictions forced a change to the original schedule.

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Now, it has been revealed matches will be played at North Sydney Oval, Hurstville Oval, Drummoyne Oval, Showgrounds Stadium and Blacktown International Sports Park.

The league has also revealed it will create a WBBL Village in Sydney Olympic Park, to accommodate players and staff from all eight teams for the duration of the tournament.

The season will kick off with a bang with all eight teams in action on Sunday, October 25 in a day that will see the Sydney Smash played at North Sydney Oval, following the Melbourne derby at the same venue.

The regular season will conclude on the weekend of November 21-22, ahead of the semi-finals and finals to be played between Wednesday, November 25 and Sunday, November 29.

Ticketing arrangements for the tournament will be announced in due course.

"It's home turf for us and I'm pretty excited to get the opportunity to play at Showgrounds again," Sydney Thunder captain Rachael Haynes told cricket.com.au from Brisbane, where she is preparing for Australia's upcoming series against New Zealand.

"We've missed out on that the last couple of years.

"It's nice that there's going to be a spread (of games) across Sydney and hopefully we'll see some crowds there to get along and support.

"But first and foremost it's just really positive that the WBBL is going ahead, I know our domestic players have been working extremely hard over the preseason so it's great they're going to have some high-quality games to participate in.

"And from our perspective we're just really looking forward to being involved." 

The WBBL Village, created with the support of Rebel, the Sydney Olympic Park Authority, Accor Hotels and Cricket NSW will see parts of Sydney Olympic Park transformed into a high-class athletes precinct, giving the league exclusive use of hotels, high performances facilities, dining venues and more.

Among the unique considerations for the league in the Village will be at least seven high school students who are contracted to WBBL clubs.

Thunder skipper Haynes has eight players under the age of 20 in her squad, including 17-year-old Phoebe Litchfield.

"It's a young group and they're exciting and full of energy so I'm sure that'll help throughout the time in the hub," Haynes said. 

"It'll be different for everyone really, we're getting an insight into it now on this tour (in Brisbane) and it changes how you train and what you focus on.

"There's a lot of downtime as well, normally you'd be able to get out and go and do something that helps you tune out from the game ... I don't think you'll necessarily be able to do that all the time so having things that keep your mind busy inside the hub and being able to switch off from the cricket is going to be really important.  

"But by all accounts a lot of effort is going in behind the scenes to give it a real village-type atmosphere and it'll be nice in some respects to be in one spot with all the teams around and hopefully we can put on a really good show for the public."

CA is working in partnership with the New South Wales Government to ensure the competition proceeds in line with government regulations and COVID safety guidelines, with the safety of the NSW community and all participants the highest priority.

"Today’s announcement of the changes to the rebel WBBL|06 fixture and the transformation of Sydney Olympic Park into the rebel WBBL Village sets the League up for another unforgettable season," Alistair Dobson, CA Head of Big Bash Leagues, said.

"Last season was the biggest in the history of the women’s game and now, following on from the Commonwealth Bank ODI and T20I series in Brisbane, we’ll get to see the stars of our world champion Australian team in action during rebel WBBL|06.

"We’d like to thank the NSW Government, rebel, the Sydney Olympic Park Authority, Accor Hotels and our colleagues at Cricket NSW for their extraordinary collaboration to make this season happen."

In good news for fans, 26 games will be televised on the Seven Network and Fox Cricket, more than any previous season, and the remaining 33 games will be live streamed on the CA Live app and cricket.com.au. All matches will also be broadcast on Kayo Sports.

Travel and quarantine arrangements for the overseas players contracted to Big Bash clubs will also be confirmed in due course.

Currently eight South Africa, seven New Zealand, one West Indies and two England players have been announced for WBBL|06.

The White Ferns players will already be in Australia following the completion of their trans-Tasman limited-overs series in Brisbane beginning on Saturday.