WBBL stars back shorter season

The two WBBL|10 Final captains have backed the move to shorten the tournament, with Renegades skipper Sophie Molineux saying she had come around after initial reservations.

The 10th edition of the WBBL saw a reduction from 14 games to 10, bringing it in line with the KFC BBL.

The shift was made in part due to the increasingly busy international schedule, shortening the season by around a fortnight to ensure it continued to attract the world’s top talent, and the T20 Spring Challenge was introduced in the lead-up to WBBL|10 to ensure there was no overall drop in games for domestic players. 

The Big Bash League announced in the lead-up to the finals the move to truncate the season had resulted in bigger crowds and television ratings.

The WBBL|10 schedule included a higher percentage of games on week nights and far fewer day-time mid-week fixtures. Regular-season crowds increased by 23 per cent to an average of 1750 per game.

The total attendance of 70,214 across 40 games was equivalent to the attendance through 54 games in WBBL|09.

Television and streaming numbers across Seven, 7Plus increased by 46 per cent, with more total viewers despite 16 fewer games, and the final match of the regular season between the Heat and Sydney Sixers was the most watched home-and-away game in three years.

Molineux had been among those who had been concerned over fewer matches for the local players but said she had seen benefits of the lead-in competition.

"I think that actually helped the Big Bash in terms of the standard and quality, because the Australian domestic players had the opportunity to play T20 cricket before this in their franchise colours," Molineux said at the MCG on the eve of the final.

"Especially the young girls, the way they attacked this Big Bash ... you look at someone like Caoimhe Bray from Sydney Sixers, those young girls are just so fearless and know that they can do it at this level. 

"It's been so nice to see that transpire."

Heat skipper Jess Jonassen said she felt the shortened competition had contributed to the tight race for finals spots, which came down to the last game of the regular season.

Heading into that final weekend of matches, six of the eight teams remained alive in the battle for top-four berths.

"I've actually really loved it," Jonassen said of the shorter season. 

"It's placed a higher price on every single match throughout. 

"At different times throughout the season, a team went from second down to seventh without even playing a game. 

"Even we saw when the Sydney Thunder coming down to their last game of the season, had the option to host the final, and then all of a sudden, they had to get to the final the hardest way possible. 

"I think in previous years, you didn't really have that, you had the top four locked in with still a few games to go in the season. 

"With the introduction of the Spring Challenge as well, it's allowed the domestic girls to get those extra games as well, and it's allowed the WBBL to continue facilitating the strongest internationals to be wanting to come and play in our competition as well. 

"Because ultimately, that's what it was about, it was the time away from home for those girls, and if you wanted to keep attracting the best players in the world to keep playing in one of the best competitions in the world, that was the way to do it I feel like it's been achieved."

WBBL social media consumption has increased 56 per cent through WBBL|10.

There has been a 55 per cent increase in engagement and over 80,000 new followers since the start of the tournament.

"When we were assessing the option of a different looking season structure, the numbers we were looking at were increased attendances and TV audiences," Cricket Australia's Executive General Manager, Big Bash Leagues, Alistair Dobson told AAP this week.

"It's a combination of creating scarcity, but it's also allowing us to put the right games in the right timeslots, a higher proportion of prime-time games.

"And then being able to have the best games in the right stadiums at the right part of the season. All those things have played out as we hoped."