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SA Scorpions to welcome New Year’s with a bang

Women’s cricket in Adelaide will receive a boost this summer, with the SA Scorpions securing two international stars and playing two curtain-raisers for the Adelaide Strikers, including the New Year’s Eve extravaganza, at Adelaide Oval this summer.

Women_Sub2Women’s cricket in Adelaide will receive a boost this summer, with the SA Scorpions securing two international stars and playing two curtain-raisers for the Adelaide Strikers, including the New Year’s Eve extravaganza, at Adelaide Oval this summer.

The SA Scorpions will play six Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) round matches and 12 WT20 round matches, including the two curtain-raiser on 31 December and 12 January. The WNCL final will be played on Sunday 25 January and the WT20 final will follow on Wednesday 28 January and will be played as a double-header to the KFC T20 Big Bash League final at Canberra’s Manuka Oval.

The SA Scorpions have built a list to envy, adding England international Sarah Taylor and New Zealand international Sophie Devine to their squad alongside Adelaide-born Australian representatives Megan Schutt and Bridget Patterson.

SA Scorpions coach Andrea McCauley believes women’s cricket is on the rise in South Australia and the new WNCL fixture will only help to continue this growth.

“We have nearly 17,000 participants in women’s cricket in South Australia, growing by a massive 31% in the last year,” said McCauley.

“The Adelaide Strikers sold-out every home match last season and to give the SA Scorpions the opportunity to play in front of large crowds at Adelaide Oval twice is a huge coup. Who knows if the next Megan Schutt is in the crowd, being inspired by these female role models playing on the big stage at Adelaide Oval.”

The competitions will follow a similar structure to previous seasons with a combination of 50-over and 20-over matches being played across each weekend round. Three WT20 matches will launch the women’s season on Friday 10 October with the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) beginning a day later on Saturday 11 October.

The women’s domestic schedule will complement a big summer of cricket for the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars, which  host the West Indies in a Series in November consisting of four One Day Internationals (ODIs) and four Women’s T20s (WT20 INTL). It is expected to be a hotly contested series as the two finalists from the 2013 ICC Women’s World Cup meet in three matches offering points for qualification for the next 50-over World Cup as part of the ICC Women’s Championship.

ABC Grandstand, which has been a long-time supporter of women’s cricket will continue its coverage this summer with ball-by-ball commentary of the four WT20 INTL matches against Pakistan and the three double-header WT20 INTL matches against West Indies.

The release of the women’s domestic schedule coincides with PlayCricket Week, CA’s annual participation campaign which marks the start of the club registration period for the summer ahead. Participation figures released by CA earlier this week indicate a 39 per cent increase in female participation in cricket in 2013-14, bringing the total number for 2013-14 up to 247,000 players.

Cricket is now more popular than ever among females, who make up 22 per cent of total cricket participants.

People interested in playing cricket can go to playcricket.com.au to find out more about the sport and how they can get involved. PlayCricket Week is about inspiring all Australians to play the game, no matter who you are, where you’ve come from or whether you’ve ever picked up a bat or ball. For more information visit playcricket.com.au

Full WNCL fixtures can be found here.
Full WT20 fixtures can be found here.
SA Scorpions 2014/15 fixtures can be found here.

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