Cricket Australia confirms full WBBL season in Sydney hub as war of words with Channel 7 cools
The AFL’s bubble-bursting antics is not making life easy for cricket as administrators work around the clock to nail down a summer schedule, which will include a 59-match season of the WBBL, to be played in a Sydney hub.
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The AFL’s embarrassing bubble-bursting antics is not making life easy for cricket as administrators work around the clock to nail down a summer schedule.
Sydney was confirmed as the host of the entire Women’s Big Bash League, which will begin on the same day as the NRL Grand Final on October 25.
Adelaide will be confirmed as the hub for four rounds of Sheffield Shield cricket, and the schedule for the Test summer against India including matches in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane is expected to be officially announced next week.
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One of the last remaining sticking points for CA is working out quarantine arrangements for Australia’s men’s players when they return from the UK and the IPL, and as revealed by News Corp earlier in the week, the plan to use Perth is now under a cloud thanks to the Western Australian Government’s fury at the AFL over quarantine breaches.
Now the Queensland Government is in the midst of a major political backlash over the Richmond Tigers’ strip club fiasco on the Gold Coast.
If WA can’t be used as a quarantine hub then other States or Territories will be looked at, but cricket will be hoping the football codes don’t burn out all the goodwill with Governments before a ball is even bowled.
Meanwhile, Channel 7 and Cricket Australia met face-to-face on Friday and pledged to keep the lines of communication open.
After a volatile week, the waters appear to have calmed at least for the time being in cricket’s explosive TV war, after a positive meeting between Channel 7 boss James Warburton and CA chief Nick Hockley in Sydney.
“We had a constructive meeting, no decisions made but we have agreed to keep talking,” Warburton said.
NSW was shunned by the AFL, but Cricket Australia has locked in a deal to host all 59 WBBL matches, with North Sydney Oval, Drummoyne Oval and Hurstville Oval likely to be put up in lights.
“We want to thank the NSW Government for their willingness to work together to deliver the WBBL competition in Sydney,” Dobson said.
“We are incredibly proud to deliver a full season of WBBL and would like to thank the NSW Government, our partners States and Territories Associations, the Australian Cricketers’ Association as well as in particular Cricket NSW – for rallying together at this challenging time to deliver a safe and successful tournament.”
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Originally published as Cricket Australia confirms full WBBL season in Sydney hub as war of words with Channel 7 cools