Record numbers of women and girls are signing up to play cricket, and that number is expected to increase when the best of the best hit our sports capital Melbourne to compete for the coveted ICC World T20 women’s competition held in February and March next year.

To get even more Victorians into the swing of the World Cup, the Victorian Government has teamed up with Cricket Victoria to set up some boundary breaking opportunities for women and girls to reach their potential through the T20 Cricket World Cup 2020 Legacy Fund.

The fund also supports Cricket Victoria initiatives which focus on diversity and inclusion and capacity building activities, including club development and assisting regional cricket associations affected by drought.

Thanks to the T20 Legacy Fund, Cricket Victoria expanded its Year 7 and 8 Girls Leadership Program.

In 2018-19 a total of 249 girls participated in online learning modules and a further 207 girls attend face to face leadership forums at Junction Oval and Mildura.

The T20 Legacy Fund has also helped deliver an expansion of Cricket Victoria’s current 16 team male Regional Big Bash series to include an All Stars Women’s match selected from 2 teams featuring 26 of the best from Women’s Community Cricket.

Held at Camberwell Magpies Cricket Club on 27 January 2019, the Women’s All Stars Match was a huge success with both teams slugging it out in front of an enthusiastic crowd, kitted in Stars and Renegades uniforms, which the players got to keep.

Thanks to the T20 Legacy Fund, Cricket Victoria has also established a new indoor female Melbourne Renegades and Stars Champions League at Werribee Indoor Sports targeting multicultural communities. Five teams totalling 26 participants from Greenvale, Parkfield, Monash and Burnside registered for the tournament. The T20 World Cups were also on display for participants to get photos with and promote the event.

These are just some of the initiatives the Victorian Government’s T20 Legacy Fund is stumping up for in the lead up to the history making ICC T20 World Cup which features for the first time two stand-alone events.

The women’s competition will be held in February and March, before the men play in October and November.

We’re hoping for a sellout crowd for the Women’s Final on International Women’s Day which would make history – breaking the world record attendance for any women’s sport fixture.

From our T20 Legacy Fund initiatives, to our recent 2018-19 Victorian Government budget boost of $13.5 million to support clubs and communities upgrade or build new cricket facilities and a number of new metro cricket and community hubs, over four years, we’re proud to support even more Victorians pad up to play cricket.

When the eyes of the world are on the MCG for the Women’s Final, through initiatives like the T20 Legacy Fund we want to make sure we’re ahead of the game, from grassroots to the elite when it comes to embracing women’s sport.