Suzie Bates commends new English Super League

New Zealand women’s skipper Suzie Bates has commended the England Super League for being a ‘stand alone’ affair, something that will make Women’s cricket progress in the professional sport. The tournament will kick off in England this weekend with the bar set as high as the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL).

“I guess (a double-header) has its advantages and disadvantages, you get to play at some of the main grounds and get the fans in towards the end of the game,” said Bates.

“With this competition, hopefully, we’ll be creating our own fan-base and on some of the smaller grounds we can fill it out, get lots of girls down to the ground, rather than always piggy-backing off the men.”

“I think it’s great that we’ve got stand-alone games here; you’ll probably get a good gauge of where the women’s game’s at from the crowds we’re hopefully going to attract.

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Former England skipper and Southern Vipers player Charlotte Edwards went on to state that Women’s T20 leagues are the best way to promote the game. “We’ve learned over a period of time that the T20 format is the best way to promote the game and I think this is a great opportunity to do that again,” said Edwards.”I think it’s a great way to attract people to watch — we want it to be an energetic and dynamic game which hopefully attracts young girls to play.

“It’s going to be a 50-over comp before the World Cup next summer and the T20 afterward, so it’s exciting times,” Edwards added.

“New Zealand had six players in the Big Bash League and our team’s gone from strength to strength, with our top players getting exposure to competitive cricket and pressure situations,” Bates said.

“So I think it’ll strengthen South Africa, West Indies, and New Zealand and hopefully we can keep competing with England and Australia, who’ve been top dogs for a while now.

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“I think everyone agrees if we can have six to eight teams worldwide competing regularly, it’s going to be good for the women’s game.”