Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup

After experimenting with an informal five-match exhibition structure for its first two editions,[1][2] Cricket Australia delivered a fully-fledged competition for the 2009–10 season which was made up of a single round-robin before a final between the two highest-ranked teams.[3] For 2010–11 and onward, the structure of the tournament was expanded to twelve rounds and a final (or, in the case of the 2013–14 edition, a finals series featuring the four highest-ranked teams) to determine each season's champion.[4]

The competition was typically scheduled alongside, and interspersed with, the Women's National Cricket League as each team would draw from the same squad for both formats. In what was promoted as an "unprecedented"[5] boost to the visibility of the women's game, the 2014–15 season featured eight fixtures paired as double-headers with the men's Big Bash League. This included the championship decider which was also broadcast live and nationally on free-to-air network Ten.[6]

On 19 February 2015, Cricket Australia announced the competition would be replaced by the Women's Big Bash League. The decision was made 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.[7][8]

Map of Australia with each state/territory shaded in its cricket team's main colour.

The Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup featured the same seven teams that competed in the Women's National Cricket League from the corresponding period of 2009 to 2015. In addition to each team's primary ground, matches were also played at a wide variety of alternate and boutique venues.