Women's Twenty20

rdf:langString Women's Twenty20

rdf:langString Women's Twenty20 is the use of the Twenty20 match format in women's cricket. In a Twenty20 match, the two teams bat for a single innings 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 ever Women's Twenty20 International (and first ever T20I for either gender), that took place at Hove on 5 August 2004 between England and New Zealand. 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 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 most recent edition took place in Australia in 2020, with the final being the most watched women's cricket event ever worldwide, and with 86,174 watching in person at the MCG.