Cricket Australia has today announced that it will be live streaming 47 matches of the Womens Big Bash League.

The announcement, when combined with the 12 matches being broadcast by Network Ten, means that the whole WBBL|02 season will be made available for viewing live and in full, making the new competition accessible to more people around Australia.

The matches being live streamed by Cricket Australia will be free to access on cricket.com.au, the Cricket Australia Live App, and – in a first for Australian women’s sport – also via the WBBL Facebook page.

All live streamed matches will be covered by a four camera set up at match and will be complemented by commentary from a team including Mel Jones and Lisa Sthalekar.

The announcement follows news from earlier in the year that Network Ten will be broadcasting 12 matches of the WBBL this season, up from 10 matches in WBBL|01.

Cricket Australia Executive General Manager – Media, Communications and Marketing, Ben Amarfio said:

“We are very excited that, given the successful ratings of WBBL|01, Network Ten has agreed to show 10 of the 12 broadcast matches for this season on the main TEN channel,”

“The WBBL was developed to provide women and girls with a visible pathway into the game of cricket and initiatives such as the live streaming of all matches for WBBL|02 do exactly that,”

“The WBBL live streaming represents a considerable investment into the competition and demonstrates how serious Cricket Australia is about attracting more girls and women to our great game.”

The  WBBL begins with a free, carnival-style opening weekend on Saturday, 10 December and Sunday, 11 December at North Sydney Oval. With all Rebel WBBL clubs in attendance, six matches being played over the course of the two days, and plenty of family fun throughout the North Sydney Oval precinct, this weekend is the perfect start to the season.

Four matches on the weekend will be broadcast on Network Ten, including a prime time match on the Saturday evening, with the Melbourne Stars taking on the reigning premiers the Sydney Thunder, live from 6.00pm. This will be the first time a standalone women’s sporting competition has been broadcast in prime time on a commercial free-to-air television network’s primary channel. The remaining two matches will be live streamed by Cricket Australia.