The Women's Big Bash League (known as the WBBL and, for sponsorship reasons, the Weber WBBL) is the Australian women's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition. The WBBL replaced the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, which ran from the 2007–08 season through to 2014–15. The competition features eight city-based franchises, branded identically to the men's Big Bash League (BBL). Teams are made up of current and former Australian national team members, the country's best young talent, and up to three overseas marquee players.

The league, which originally ran alongside the BBL, has experienced a steady increase in media coverage and popularity since its inception, moving to a fully standalone schedule for WBBL|05. In 2018, ESPNcricinfo included the inaugural season in its 25 Moments That Changed Cricket series, calling it "the tournament that kick-started a renaissance".

The Adelaide Strikers are the current champions, winning back to back titles in WBBL|08 and WBBL|09. The collective performance of the Sydney Sixers and the Sydney Thunder in the league's initial years—combining for four championships in the first six seasons—has partially echoed the dominance of New South Wales in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL), the 50-over counterpart of the WBBL.

History

Women's International Cricket League

In early 2014, the formation of an international women's Twenty20 competition, based around the franchise model of the Indian Premier League was announced. Headed by former Australian cricketer Lisa Sthalekar and Australian businessman Shaun Martyn, the proposal involved six privately owned Singapore-based teams with players earning over $US40,000 per season.

There was strong support from top female players for the Women's International Cricket League (WICL) concept, and backing was sought from the International Cricket Council, while former international cricketers Geoff Lawson and Clive Lloyd were on the board of the organisation.

The concept was dealt a blow in early June, when the England and Wales Cricket Board announced that they would refuse to release centrally contracted English players. At the same time, Cricket Australia (CA) announced it would not endorse the WICL either. Both organisations expressed concern that the tournament was not being run by a national cricket board, but a private company.

Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup

Before the establishment of the Women's Big Bash League, Cricket Australia conducted a national T20 competition: the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup. The tournament ran in conjunction with the WNCL (the national women's 50-over competition) with the final played as a double header alongside the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash and later the Big Bash League. The competition ran from the 2009–10 season to 2014–15 after some exhibition games were held from 2007 to 2009.

Cricket Australia decided to replace the competition with the Women's Big Bash League in an attempt to further heighten the profile and professionalism of elite-level female cricket, thereby ideally helping to grow grassroots participation and viewership of the game among girls and women across the country.

"빅 배시 리그 여자, 플레이오프"은 호주에서 개최되는 크리켓 토너먼트입니다. 이 토너먼트는 여자 크리켓 경기에 초점을 맞추고 있으며, 빅 배시 리그의 일부로 진행됩니다. 플레이오프는 토너먼트의 마지막 단계로, 최종 우승자를 가리는 경기들을 포함하고 있습니다. 이 토너먼트는 호주 내 여러 도시에서 열리며, 세계적으로 유명한 여자 크리켓 선수들이 참가합니다. 빅 배시 리그 여자, 플레이오프는 열정적인 경기와 높은 수준의 경기력으로 알려져 있으며, 크리켓 팬들에게 많은 관심을 받고 있습니다.