The inaugural edition of the recently concluded The Hundred Women’s tournament saw a record-breaking number of people attend a domestic women’s cricket match. The tournament was played by many female cricketers and was a quick attention gainer for the newbies as well.
On the success of The Hundred, English skipper Heather Knight commented, “So I think with the Hundred the success that it’s had, it’s about trying to transfer those plans to coming more regularly and I think that’s one thing with women’s sport – not just women’s cricket but women’s sport in general – if there’s one event that’s really well supported, it’s just about making sure that you transfer those to all year round and getting people to come and support the game all year.”
Seeing the Hundred’s success, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board is now planning to host a franchise-based Women’s T20 tournament. This tournament named ‘Lanka Women’s Super League T20’ is expected to attract international women cricket stars as well.
The league will consist of 13 games played by 4 teams at either Dambulla or Pallekalle International Cricket Stadium within a bio-bubble in October. It is said that each team will have a maximum of six foreign players.
SLC’s CEO Ashley de Silva told ESPNcricinfo, “Even if there are no foreign players, we will go ahead with the local players. As for overseas coaches, depends on the offers that we get in terms of franchise owners for the teams.”
The SLC has called for applications for Sports Marketing/Management Agencies to handle the tournament. The cricket administration will be accepting applications until 01:00 pm on Tuesday, 7th September as reported by NewsWire.
The SLC hopes for the success of this league as the women cricketers will get more exposure. It will be an opportunity for them to identify the lacking areas and improve them to grow. Furthermore, it will also increase the popularity of female cricket in Sri Lanka.
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