What does Australia’s Hundred dominance mean for women’s cricket?

Southern Brave had just dismissed Australia star Phoebe Litchfield, and they were in with a chance – Northern Superchargers were wobbling at 59-3 in pursuit of 116 to win The Hundred, and their leading run-scorer was back in the dugout.

The match would be in the balance if there was one more wicket.

Except that earlier this year, Brave’s players had a taste of England’s Ashes experience: the world-class Australians just kept coming.

Nicola Carey embodies the staggering strength in depth of world cricket’s juggernaut – the all-rounder has not played for Australia since 2022 but came in at number five and cruised to 35 from 25 balls, leading the Superchargers to victory with 12 balls to spare.

There were no more jitters or qualms as Annabel Sutherland, a fellow Australian all-rounder, won the unbeaten stand of 60. They hardly broke a sweat, actually.

It is not breaking news that Australia are the dominant force in women’s cricket. England has won three T20 World Cups, a 50-over World Cup, and the Commonwealth Games title, but they haven’t won the Ashes since 2014.

Therefore, it shouldn’t surprise that their players are among the most sought-after in the era of franchise cricket. But even players who cannot break into the Australia side, including Carey, Jess Jonassen and Amanda-Jade Wellington, are able to dominate.

Australians made up just over 16% of The Hundred’s women’s squads this year, with 17 featuring out of 105.

In contrast, there were four South African players and two New Zealanders and two West Indies players.

Four of the top 10 run-scorers in the competition, including Litchfield, the tournament’s MVP, were the Aussies who particularly excelled with the bat. She was closely followed on 287 by former Australia captain Meg Lanning – another who no longer plays for the national team.

Australians totaled 2, 495 runs, with an average of 25.45, while England-qualified players (73 players, just shy of 70%) managed 3, 995 runs, 15.85. The gap still exists between the Australians, who are on average 26.62, and the English, who are on average 19 48.

The visiting superstars also scored 11 fifties to England’s 15, while Grace Harris, Carey and Litchfield had the highest strike-rates, and four of the top five six-hitters were Australian.

Although England’s Lauren Bell took 19 wickets, they were not quite as effective with the ball as they did with the other 23% of the total wickets.

Due to the sheer number of all-rounders they produce, this is another significant factor in why so many Australians are chosen.

Ellyse Perry, Ash Gardner, Sutherland, Jonassen, Carey – alongside the likes of Marizanne Kapp and Hayley Matthews of other nationalities – will almost always deliver 20 balls or four overs, depending on the format, and bat in the top five.

However, this leaves a number of teams fielding players who are almost making up the batting average in the lower order rather than the bowling.

Although this year’s squad featured Perry, Gardner, and Beth Mooney, there has been some improvement in this area following post-Ashes criticism regarding a lack of succession planning for Heather Knight’s England reign, such as the Hundred final, which featured two English domestic captains, including Georgia Adams and Hollie Armitage. Charlie Dean also led well for London Spirit in the absence of Knight.

Uncapped domestic players have traditionally had to overcome this, but recent performances have suggested that this may start to change.

Kira Chathli, the only non-international player in the top 10, finished the tournament as the sixth-highest run-scorer and the only non-international player in the top 10.

Similarly, 18-year-old Davina Perrin provided the moment of the tournament with her stunning 42-ball century in the Eliminator, arguably the finest knock in the competition’s five years and a display of dominance far greater than any other international player had managed this year.

Anya Shrubsole, a former England bowler, says the advantages of having Australian players play outweigh any other issues relating to their dominance after playing for Southern Brave in the first three of The Hundred.

An up-and-coming English player, an example being young spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman for Brave, is likely to learn a lot about her game and the standard required for international cricket by bowling at Litchfield in the pressure moments of a Hundred final.

There are “a lot of advantages to having them in a tournament,” Shrubsole told BBC Sport. “You have international players, England players, domestic players who get to see first-hand what those players do and how they go about doing things,” Shrubsole said.

“From my point of view, if you’re on top of your game and asking enough questions, cricket can’t help but be beneficial for you.”

” It’s great for the tournament and if you pay enough attention it’s good for individual cricketers ‘ development. “

Another argument could be that domestic players are preventing development from due to their dominance.

Fi Morris, an all-rounder, did not bat and did not bowl in any of his six games for the Manchester Originals this year. While she acknowledges the concerns, Morris shares Shrubsole’s view that the learning opportunities are far greater with the Australian contingent around.

Morris, a 31-year-old player, told BBC Sport, “I’m not a young player coming through the ranks, but I can definitely see that point of view.”

“Do you stand to gain more from talking to Meg Lanning for three weeks about batting and what you can learn from her in training, or do you stand to gain a little bit higher in the order?”

Due to the expansion of franchise tournaments in addition to The Hundred, this does present a challenge for the wider women’s game.

As of next year, The Hundred will join India’s Women’s Premier League with teams being owned privately – Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League is currently the exception from the biggest three.

The best players will have to win, which will require the best players, of whom Australia will make up the majority of the players overseas.

How can the West Indies, in this context, create the next Hayley Matthews? How does a promising young all-rounder like South Africa’s Annerie Dercksen get her breakthrough?

Shrubsole claims that Australian franchise cricket is about to start recruiting Australian players, but that she also believes domestic partnerships can help support other nations, saying, “You can’t have it all.” You can’t have these private investors who have invested millions of pounds and say, “Oh, by the way, you can’t pick that many players because we want to develop our own.”

” The reality is that the priority is going to be winning. The broadcasters want the best players because they will have the best cricket, and the new owners want the best players because they have a better chance of succeeding.

“So can countries like New Zealand, which have a lot of up-and-coming players, find a way to get their players into our domestic structure or Australia’s, where they have?

” There’s a bit of a kind of ‘ England, Australia, merry-go-round ‘ at the moment. “

Morris also calls for more franchise tournaments around the world and makes reference to the global issue.

The men have the ILT20, the PSL, the CPL, and the SA20, Morris said.

” So I think we need those smaller tournaments and those tournaments around the globe that might clash with an Ashes series, so then people from other countries get more of an opportunity.

“I believe that’s unquestionably a global issue that needs to be addressed and improved.”

With the announcement of more money to be won for the upcoming Women’s World Cup, it’s possible that Australian cricket will take home the $3.3 million top prize, with only India and England as other likely contenders.

The prospect of other countries catching up with those three is already highly unlikely.