The Women's Big Bash will return to Ballarat's Eastern Oval in November for the league's first standalone season.
The City of Ballarat and our Sport and Active Living team are proud to secure another Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) match to the region through our collaboration with Cricket Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades.
In its continued shift away from the men's BBL, the WBBL revealed earlier this year that family-friendly weekend festivals of cricket at boutique venues will be the hallmark of the first standalone season of the WBBL.
As part of the standalone season, the 2019 WBBL fixture will see the Melbourne Renegades return to Eastern Oval on 23 November.
Ballarat Deputy Mayor Cr Jim Rinaldi said the fixture was another cue for women's cricket in Ballarat.
He added it was also another good indicator that Ballarat is becoming a key destination for major sporting events.
"The Eastern Oval certainly represents everything WBBL wants for its upcoming fixture - it's the perfect venue to create a family atmosphere," he said.
"Last year was a good indication of how well the Ballarat community received WBBL, with a strong crowd of 2,200 turning out to watch the game despite the heavy rain.
"The return of women's professional cricket in Ballarat is certainly exciting for our city and the growing number of women and girls choosing to play cricket locally.
Cr Rinaldi said securing another WBBL match goes to the core of the Active Women and Girls' Strategy.
"We're seeing more and more young females taking up cricket, so the return of WBBL is another positive step forward for our city," he said.
"The strategy was developed to create more equitable opportunities for females and changing the current climate around participation in sport for women and girls.
"It's high-profile events such as WBBL which play an important role in supporting gender equity, re-shaping stereotypes and empowering women and girls to take up sport."
Over the next two years the City of Ballarat will also continue its work in ensuring Ballarat is a female-friendly sporting city by undertaking one of its biggest-ever sporting infrastructure programs to refurbish and build new facilities to support female participants
"As a Council, we're committed to improving infrastructure at a local level to provide our young sportswomen the best possible facilities to pursue their love of sport," Cr Rinaldi said.
"We've already completed female-friendly changeroom upgrades at White Flat and Eastern Oval, and we will soon start work on upgrades to Western Oval, Alfredton Reserve, Russell Square, City Oval, Marty Busch, Trekardo Park, Learmonth Oval, Victoria Park, Wendouree West Reserve, Royal Park (Buninyong) and Pleasant Street Reserve.
"New 500 LUX lighting is also due to be completed by the end of this year, concluding $2 million of investment at Eastern Oval."
