2019–20 Women's Big Bash League season

The pre-season was noted as particularly busy for player transfers which produced some of the biggest recruiting achievements in the tournament's five-year history.[11]

After finishing the last two tournaments on the bottom of the ladder, the Hobart Hurricanes managed to bolster their stocks by luring across Nicola Carey, Belinda Vakarewa and Maisy Gibson from the Sydney Thunder, as well as Tayla Vlaeminck from the Melbourne Renegades.[12][13][14][15] Conversely the reigning champions, Brisbane Heat, suffered the losses of Josie Dooley to the Renegades and Jemma Barsby to the Perth Scorchers.[16][17]

Other local player movements included Elyse Villani departing the Scorchers to captain the Melbourne Stars, while Katie Mack left the Stars to join the Adelaide Strikers.[18][19] The Hurricanes completed their roster with the readdition of Emily Smith, filling the wicket-keeping role left vacant by Georgia Redmayne's shift to the Scorchers.[20][21] On 18 November 2019, Smith was banned for the remainder of WBBL|05 after contravening Cricket Australia's anti-corruption policy with a social media post. Under a special exemption, Tasmanian Tigers member Emma Manix-Geeves was brought into the Hurricanes squad as a replacement.[22][23][24][25][26]

There were several changes to overseas marquee allocations. Englishwoman Tammy Beaumont, previously a Striker, joined the Renegades after a year away from the league.[27] She replaced New Zealand's Amy Satterthwaite, who would miss the season through maternity.[28]

South African Chloe Tryon joined the Hurricanes for 2019–20 along with England's Fran Wilson—a member of the Thunder's WBBL|03 campaign.[29] Nat Sciver returned for the Scorchers after not partaking in the previous season, replacing England teammate Kate Cross.[30] Announced to join Sciver at Perth was Ireland's Kim Garth, appearing in the league for the first time since winning a second championship with the Sydney Sixers.[31][32] However, some members of past title-winning squads would be absent: the Heat did not renew their contracts with Proteas pair Laura Wolvaardt and Suné Luus,[33] instead they brought White Ferns duo Maddy Green and Amelia Kerr on board;[34][35] and Kiwi Sara McGlashan's time at the Sixers came to an end when she announced her retirement from professional cricket in January 2019.[36]

Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana did not re-sign for the Thunder and Hurricanes respectively on account of a conflicting national team schedule, marking the first WBBL season to not feature any Indian-born players.[37][38] This fixturing clash followed a dispute between the BCCI and CA earlier in the year when Australia's top talent (such as Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy) were excluded from the 2019 Women's T20 Challenge—an exhibition tournament serving as a potential precursor to a future female equivalent of the Indian Premier League.[39] ESPNcricinfo reported this breakdown was part of a wider disagreement between the two boards that revolved around the BCCI's insistence on CA honouring a touring commitment to play a men's bi-lateral ODI series in India in January 2020.[40]

Jamaican Stafanie Taylor ended her four-year run with the Thunder and was subsequently contracted by the Strikers. Due to international cricket commitments with the West Indies, Taylor was unavailable for the majority of WBBL|05 and would share a marquee position with England's Lauren Winfield.[41] The Thunder filled their vacant overseas marquee spots by acquiring the services of Nida Dar—making her the first Pakistani woman to sign a deal with an international cricket league—and South Africa's Shabnim Ismail—returning to the competition after a short inaugural season stint with the Melbourne Renegades.[42][43]

New Zealander Sophie Devine (Strikers) and South African Marizanne Kapp (Sixers) became the only foreigners to play in each of the first five WBBL seasons with one team.[44][45]

On 19 November, the Sydney Sixers announced the signing of Englishwoman Hollie Armitage, replacing captain Ellyse Perry who would miss five games due to a shoulder injury.[46][47]

After scoring a T20I century for Sri Lanka against Australia on 29 September 2019,[48] former Renegade Chamari Atapattu stated in a post-match press conference she had not been offered a contract for the upcoming Women's Big Bash season despite her eagerness to participate, underlining the league's fierce competition for overseas marquee selection.[49] However, it was announced on 30 November that Atapattu had signed with the Renegades for their last regular season game and finals.[50] She replaced Tammy Beaumont who—along with Danni Wyatt, Nat Sciver, Amy Jones and Lauren Winfield—would miss out on the WBBL|05 finals due to national team commitments.[50][51][52]

Victorious WBBL|04 coach Peter McGiffin stepped down from his role at Brisbane and was replaced by Australian women's team assistant Ashley Noffke in June 2019.[53] The Thunder and Strikers also made key changes ahead of the fifth season, appointing Super League title-winner Trevor Griffin and former first-class batsman Luke Williams to their respective head coach positions.[54][55]

Despite being ruled out of playing duties, the Renegades announced Amy Satterthwaite would continue to contribute off-field in a specialist coaching capacity throughout the WBBL|05 season.[28]

Player of the Tournament votes are awarded on a 3-2-1 basis by the two standing umpires at the conclusion of every match, meaning a player can receive a maximum of six votes per game.

Pos.	Player	Team	Votes
1st	Sophie Devine	Adelaide Strikers	48
2nd	Beth Mooney	Brisbane Heat	35
3rd	Danielle Wyatt	Melbourne Renegades	33
=4th	Jess Duffin	Melbourne Renegades	31
=4th	Meg Lanning	Perth Scorchers	31
=4th	Ellyse Perry	Sydney Sixers	31
5th	Jess Jonassen	Brisbane Heat	27

Source: WBBL|05 Player of the Tournament

Cricket Australia appointed a panel of experts to select a Team of the Tournament that recognises the standout performers of WBBL|05. The team is intended to mimic regular conditions such as a maximum of three overseas players, a realistic mix of batters and bowlers, as well as a captain and a wicket-keeper.

The members of the selection panel were cricket.com.au journalist Laura Jolly, Head of Big Bash Leagues Alistair Dobson, Australian women's cricket team head coach Matthew Mott, former Australian captain Belinda Clark, former players Lisa Sthalekar (Seven Network) and Mel Jones (Fox Cricket) and ABC commentator Alister Nicholson.[97]

• Sophie Devine (Adelaide Strikers)
• Beth Mooney (Brisbane Heat) – wicket-keeper
• Danielle Wyatt (Melbourne Renegades)
• Meg Lanning (Perth Scorchers)
• Ellyse Perry (Sydney Sixers)
• Jess Duffin (Melbourne Renegades) – captain
• Jess Jonassen (Brisbane Heat)
• Marizanne Kapp (Sydney Sixers)
• Molly Strano (Melbourne Renegades)
• Megan Schutt (Adelaide Strikers)
• Belinda Vakarewa (Hobart Hurricanes)
• Ashley Noffke (Brisbane Heat) – coach

Source: WBBL|05 Team of the Tournament

Players under 21 years of age at the start of the season are eligible for the Young Gun Award. Weekly winners are selected over the course of the season by a panel of Cricket Australia officials based on match performance, on-field and off-field attitude, and their demonstration of skill, tenacity and good sportsmanship. Each weekly winner receives a $500 Rebel gift card and the overall winner receives a $5000 cash prize, as well as access to a learning and mentor program.[98]

The nominees for the WBBL|05 Young Gun were:

• Week 1: Phoebe Litchfield (Sydney Thunder)
• Week 2: Tayla Vlaeminck (Hobart Hurricanes)
• Week 3: Hannah Darlington (Sydney Thunder) – winner
• Week 4: Tahlia Wilson (Sydney Thunder)
• Week 5: Courtney Webb (Melbourne Renegades)
• Week 6: Annabel Sutherland (Melbourne Stars)
• Week 7: Stella Campbell (Sydney Sixers)

Sydney Thunder medium-pacer Hannah Darlington took out the overall award on the back of a standout debut season in which she claimed 16 wickets at an average of 21.31 and economy rate of 6.82.[99]

Each team designated an award to adjudge and recognise their most outstanding contributor for the season.

• Adelaide Strikers Most Valuable Player: Sophie Devine[100]
• Brisbane Heat Most Valuable Player: Jess Jonassen[101]
• Hobart Hurricanes Player of the Tournament: Belinda Vakarewa[102]
• Melbourne Renegades Player of the Season: Jess Duffin[103]
• Melbourne Stars Player of the Season: Lizelle Lee[104]
• Perth Scorchers Player of the Year: Nat Sciver[105]
• Sydney Sixers Player of the Tournament: Marizanne Kapp[106]
• Sydney Thunder Alex Blackwell Medal: Hannah Darlington[107]