Beth Mooney has urged Cricket Australia (CA) to rethink the scheduling of women’s international cricket, warning that the current calendar could hurt the sport’s growth among young girls. She believes placing matches away from the peak summer period is making it harder for families and fans to attend games.
Australia begin their home summer against Bangladesh on Friday with three ODIs in Brisbane, followed by three T20Is against New Zealand in Sydney. The T20I fixtures in Sydney are scheduled on school nights. They will not play at home again until their ODI series against New Zealand in March, 2027.
Beth Mooney Raises Concerns Over Women's Cricket Schedule
The current ICC calendar has raised concerns among Australia’s senior women’s players. There will be no international women’s cricket or Women’s Big Bash League matches during Australian school holidays for at least the next three years.
Beth Mooney said the timing could make it difficult for young families to attend matches, particularly when games are scheduled on weekday evenings. She added that less access to live cricket could also affect how young girls connect with the sport.
“We don’t want to be the sport that falls behind because we’re just getting it wrong,” Mooney told AAP.
“We’re just pushing it uphill, because we’re in a bad timeslot and it’s a bad time of year for parents. They’re not dragging their kid out to watch a 7pm T20 on a Tuesday night or whatever it is. That’s going to stop girls getting into the game, because parents aren’t going to take them.”
Australia Risk Losing Momentum During Peak Summer
The scheduling problem has been made worse by the ICC’s decision to move the Champions Trophy to India. Perth will not host any international women’s matches this summer.
Several Australian players have also raised concerns about the January window being occupied by the Women’s Premier League in India. The WPL will be played from January 14 to February 7 this year, while Australia are scheduled to tour Sri Lanka during the Christmas period.
There is a concern that Australia’s women could become less visible to home audiences despite their continued success, including another T20 World Cup title. Beth Mooney believes Cricket Australia needs to create a regular summer window and promote the team more consistently.
“We’re not getting crowds, it’s not marketed well. There is no big-ticket item where people go, ‘the Australian women’s team play here every year at this time’,” Mooney said.
“We want to be relatable athletes. And if we’re not front and centre of the summer it makes it pretty difficult when it’s meant to be a summer sport.”
We Don’t Need - Beth Mooney Suggests Scheduling Women’s Games Around Tests
Beth Mooney said women’s cricket does not need to compete directly with the men’s Test schedule. She suggested using major Test fixtures to create more opportunities for the women’s team to play in front of larger crowds.
“We don’t need to compete with the men. They play the day-night Test at some point. We can have T20s before that. Or we can play night T20s when there is a men’s Test on,” Beth Mooney said.
Australia coach Shelley Nitschke also admitted it was “obviously disappointing” that the team would not play at home in December or January. Captain Sophie Molineux backed the push for more December fixtures and believes they could help bring more supporters to stadiums.
“It would also help see fans come through,” Molineux said. “I completely understand that the schedules are getting bigger and busier.”
Also read: ECB ready to fund West Indies Women’s Test ahead of England’s 2027 Ashes
