The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has today announced that a South West consortium consisting of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Somerset County Cricket Club, and the University of Exeter is one of the six hosts that will compete in the inaugural Women’s Cricket Super League this summer.
The six Women’s Cricket Super League hosts in full are:
· South West: Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Somerset County Cricket Club, University of Exeter
· Hampshire Cricket with partners: Berkshire Cricket Ltd, Dorset Cricket Board, Isle of Wight Cricket Board, Oxfordshire Cricket, Southampton Solent University, Sussex Cricket Ltd, Wiltshire Cricket Ltd
· Lancashire County Cricket Board with partners: Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire County Cricket Club Foundation
· Loughborough University
· Surrey County Cricket Club
· Yorkshire County Cricket Club
The announcement follows a rigorous bidding process over the last six months, which saw 28 different organisations express an interest in becoming a Women’s Cricket Super League host.
The Women’s Cricket Super League will start this summer with the South West team competing in a Twenty20 (T20) event against the other five hosts. Thereafter the competition will include both T20 and 50-over formats. All six teams have been awarded hosting rights for a four year period from 2016-2019 inclusive.
ECB Director of England Women’s Cricket, Clare Connor, said: “It is great to have a strong South West partnership as one of our six Women’s Cricket Super League hosts for the next four years”.
She added: “For two rival First Class counties and a university with such a renowned sporting reputation to come together and collaborate in this way to help develop the women’s game is an exciting opportunity”.
Gloucestershire Cricket’s CEO, Will Brown commented: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been chosen as a host for the Women’s Cricket Super league and look forward to kicking the league off in style this summer. The unique nature of our South West bid brings old rivals together, crosses county boundaries and establishes the South West as a potential powerhouse of Women’s and Girls’ cricket”.
