The Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) is the national domestic 50-over competition for

women's cricket Women's cricket is the team sport of cricket when played by woman, women. Its Laws of cricket, rules are almost identical to those in the game played by men, the main change being the use of a smaller cricket ball, ball. Women's cricket is b ...

in Australia. Featuring seven teams—one from every

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

, plus the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

—each season's winner is awarded the Ruth Preddy Cup.

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

have historically dominated the competition, appearing in the first 24 title deciders and winning 20 championships. The streak of final appearances was broken in the 2020–21 season when they finished in fourth place.

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

are the current champions, having won the past three titles from 2021–22 to 2023–24. Beginning in 1996–97, the WNCL replaced the

Australian Women's Cricket Championships The Australian Women's Cricket Championships was a women's cricket competition which ran from 1931 until 1996. It usually operated as a first-class competition, with matches played over two days. Later editions included limited overs cricket in ...

which had taken place in a two-week tournament format since 1930–31. In conjunction with its

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

counterparts—the more recently established Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup and its high-profile successor, the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL)—the league is cited as a bedrock foundation for developing the standard of women's cricket in the country, helping to produce world-class talent as well as attracting top international players. In particular, it is considered a crucial platform for Australia's finest young cricketers to further develop their skills and strive for

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

selection. The WNCL has experienced a rising level of professionalism since its inception, though the most notable breakthrough occurred in 2017 when the Australian Cricketers' Association negotiated a watershed deal with

Cricket Australia Cricket Australia (CA) is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Cricket'. It is incorporated as an Australian Public Company ...

to expand the total female payment pool from $7.5 million to $55.2 million.

Teams

The tournament features seven teams, with matches played across Australia at a combination of bigger venues including the

WACA Ground The WACA Ground () is a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia. The stadium's name derives from the initials of its owners and operators, the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA). The WACA has been referred to as Western Australia' ...

in Perth and Blundstone Arena in Hobart, as well as smaller grounds including CitiPower Centre in Melbourne and Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide. Originally a five-team competition, the league was expanded to include the

in 2009–10 and

in 2010–11. Cricket ACT fields a team in the league despite being a non-member association of Cricket Australia.

Results

Season summaries

Sources:

Final(s) summaries

1996–2007

From the inaugural season through to 2006–07, the two top-ranked teams on the points table at the conclusion of the regular season would go on to compete in a best-of-three finals series to determine a champion. Dead rubbers were played out in the first two seasons, though such a practice was discontinued thereafter.

2007–present

Coinciding with the introduction of the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, the WNCL finals series was reduced to a single match from onward. However, the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons utilised an extended four-team playoffs system which included knockout semi-finals.

Team performance

Legend
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Notes

References

External links

WNCL
at

WNCL web page with squad lists, results
an
records
(archived January 2012) {{Sports leagues of Australia

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

Australian domestic cricket competitions 1996 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 1996