Women's Twenty20 is the use of the

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 ...

match format in

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 a Twenty20 match, the two teams bat for a single

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). In cricket and rounders, "innings" is ...

each, of a maximum of 20 overs. The wider rules and playing conditions are usually the same for both the men's format and the women's format, with some small variations. The first women's Twenty20 matches took place concurrently on 29 May 2004, as part of the 2004 Super Fours: Braves versus Super Strikers and Knight Riders versus V Team. These matches were viewed as a warm-up for the first

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 international (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 international is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The very firs ...

(and first T20I for either gender), that took place at

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

on 5 August 2004 between

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and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Most major cricket nations now have a women's Twenty20 cricket tournament as part of their domestic season. In 2007, the first Women's Interstate Twenty20 began in Australia and the State League Twenty20 began in New Zealand. With the beginning of the Women's Big Bash League in Australia in 2015–16 and the

Women's Cricket Super League The Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL), known as the Kia Super League (KSL) for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional women's Twenty20 cricket competition in England and Wales operated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The comp ...

in England in 2016, domestic women's Twenty20 tournaments started becoming more professionalised. In 2022, the first privately-run women's T20 competition was launched, the 2022 FairBreak Invitational T20. At international level, Twenty20 cricket has been an increasingly prevalent format for women. The first ICC Women's World Twenty20 was held in England in 2009, and was won by the hosts. The final of the

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

edition in Australia became the most watched women's cricket event ever worldwide with 53 million views, and with 86,174 watching in person at the MCG. The most recent edition was held in South Africa in

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, with

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winning an unprecedented sixth title.

Status

In October 2017, the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC) confirmed updated regulations for Classification of Official Cricket. It defined and clarified what constitutes Official Cricket and what does not. According to these regulations, Competitive Women's Cricket is considered as the highest level of domestic women's cricket. The main features of the new regulations on what constitutes Competitive Women's T20 Cricket and what do not are as follows.

Matches that qualify as Competitive Women's T20 Cricket

* Twenty20 women's cricket matches played either at state or provincial level or official matches of a touring Test team against state, or provincial level teams, or franchise based teams or competitions, substantially conforming to ICC standard playing conditions and accorded the status of Competitive Women's Cricket by the relevant governing bodies.

Matches that do not qualify as Competitive Women's T20 Cricket

* Matches between the 'A' teams, national academy or age group teams of member countries. * All other women's cricket matches played as part of a competition or tournament held under the auspices of a member including club cricket, schools, age groups and university cricket.

Match format and rules

Women's Twenty20 cricket mainly follows the same rules as men's Twenty20 cricket. Twenty20 matches are a form of

limited overs cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...

, with both teams batting for a single

of 20 overs (120 legal deliveries). The team with the most runs at the conclusion of both innings is the winner of the match. Some small differences exist between the women's and men's formats: for example, ICC rules state that during non-Powerplay overs in women's matches, 4 fielders are permitted outside the fielding circle, compared to 5 in the men's game. Boundaries are also smaller in the women's game, with the rules dictating that they should be between 60 and 70 yards, compared to 65 and 90 yards in the men's game.

International

s have been played since 2004. In January 2018, the ICC granted international status to all matches between associate nations. Subsequently, they created a T20I rankings system which were launched in October 2018.

Domestic T20 leagues

The following is a list of the premier T20 domestic competition in full member countries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Women's Twenty20