Australia women to entertain Proteas and Kiwis later this year

Published - 08 Aug 2016, 10:14 IST | Updated - 08 Aug 2016, 10:14 IST

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The Australia women’s cricket team aka the ‘Southern Stars’ will host South Africa and New Zealand in ODIs and T20Is later this year in a statement released by Cricket Australia. In November this year, Australia will face off against South Africa in a five-match ODI series beginning at Canberra with subsequent matches to be played in Sydney and Coffs Harbour.

This series will be followed by the tour of the Kiwis for the Australian summer in February where they will play three Twenty20 internationals against each other. The joint T20 international series will be played at the MCG (February 17), Geelong’s Kardinia Park (February 19) and the Adelaide Oval (February 22).

James Sutherland, the Chief Executive of Cricket Australia went on to commend the growth and participation of the women’s game. “The women’s game in Australia is seeing phenomenal growth in participation and following for our national team,” James Sutherland, CA chief executive, said on Monday. “Girls and women are playing cricket in record numbers and participation growth last summer was fuelled by the incredibly successful launch of the Women’s Big Bash League.

“Whilst cricket has had a national female competition for more than 80 years, we are committed to further investment to grow the female game,” he added. “The Southern Stars are the world’s number one ranked women’s team and our female cricketers are deservedly the best paid of all women’s team sports in our country.”

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“It’s fantastic to be able to have the Southern Stars accessible to fans around the country and the world.

“Our female cricketers are wonderful role models and we are delighted to see their increasing exposure is inspiring more and more girls to play cricket,” he added.