BALLARAT - and in fact all of regional Victoria - has missed out on hosting rights for any games in the upcoming Women's Big Bash League, with the release of the season fixture, with all matches scheduled for Victoria to be played in Melbourne.
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In a shock and disappointing move to the City of Ballarat, no regional centre - not even Geelong, which hosts only one Men's Big Bash League game this season - will host a WBBL clash in 2023.
The Melbourne Renegades will host all of their home matches at the Junction Oval, while the Melbourne Stars will alternate between the MCG, Junction Oval, Casey Fields and Jubilee Oval in Ringwood.
The Victorian derby matches have been scheduled for November 12 at the Junction Oval the MCG on November 25.
Previously Ballarat has hosted multiple WBBL games, including last season when Eastern Oval hosted a WBBL festival in November when Victorian teams were joined by the Sydney Sixers, Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder over a three-day carnival. City of Ballarat mayor Des Hudson said he was disappointed at the decision to take women's cricket away from the regions.
He said, he hoped to continue to work with the Melbourne Renegades, in particular, going forward.
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"The City of Ballarat values its relationship with the Melbourne Renegades," Cr Hudson said. "Although we are disappointed not to host a WBBL fixture for the 2023/2024 season, we understand it is a Cricket Australia decision to fixture more matches in capital cities.
"We look forward to working closely with the Melbourne Renegades into the future and remain hopeful of seeing Australia's best cricketers return to Ballarat."
Cricket Victoria and the Renegades did not respond to questions.
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