First Women's Big Bash League has put women's cricket on a course to one-day rival the men's says Southern Stars allrounder Ellyse Perry
Women's game could equal men's, says Perry
Ellyse Perry believes the popularity of women's cricket sparked by the Women's Big Bash League puts the game on course to eventually equal the men's.
The inaugural Rebel WBBL season exceeded all expectations, with the women's game enjoying unprecedented attention during the summer, with record-breaking attendances and television ratings.
A match between Melbourne Renegades and Sydney Thunder at Etihad Stadium was played in front of 14,611, while the Sydney derby attracted a crowd of 12,220 and a peak television audience of 496,000, making it No.1 in its timeslot across all channels.
The 10 broadcast matches had an average audience of 231,000, while more than 2.56 million people tuned in throughout the course of the tournament, and more than 70,000 attended matches around the country.
And while the high quality of the cricket played was on par with what close observers of the women's game have come to expect, the T20 format which is attracting new and young fans to the game around the world is doing the same for women's cricket.
"(Twenty20 cricket has) played a huge role to date just in terms of being able to put it on TV as well as playing double headers with men's games at international and domestic levels as well," Perry told Fox Sports.
"It's had a huge impact on the growth of the game, just like as it has on the men's game.
"It's a really exciting format of cricket, and I think it's quite encompassing in terms of people that watch it from young girls and boys to mums and dads. So it's a fantastic format and it's been really valuable for us."
Quick Single: WBBL paving the way all around the world
That growth and the wider exposure T20 international double headers and the WBBL gained is something Perry is keen to see women's cricket capitalise on.
"I think it's fair to say as a whole women's sport in Australia and globally has come a long way since I started playing," Perry said.
"I think when I first started there weren't even contracts for players and now it's at a level where it's very close to being full-time professional.
"The interest in the game from the general public and the media is at a much higher level too. It's come a long way and the exciting thing is I think there's a lot of growth and development to come.
"There's no reason why it can't match the men's game and continue to progress with the rest of Australian sport."
Belinda Clark, a Southern Stars legend and team performance senior manager for Cricket Australia, is another keen to see the WBBL grow in its second year.
"A lot of (the continued success) will come down to the way the competition is scheduled and how we engage with the broadcaster," she said.
"The key thing that was different (for women's cricket) to other years was the ability to get on TV sets around country and provide a really exciting opportunity for people to watch cricket.
"That is core to moving forward. So we need to go about making sure we have the same or more games on TV.
"The double headers worked well, but so did the standalone fixtures, so we've got work to do on how we break the season up, understanding what worked well so we can do it again while also making sure we've got the appetitive to continually evolve it."
Clark hopes the strong television audiences and attendances will translate into a growing number of women and young girls playing cricket.
"With the WBBL and the Australian team on television I would like to think that's sparked a lot of interest in young girls and in parents to think, 'this is a viable option for my daughter to play'," she said.
"So we need to make sure we're providing them with opportunities to play, to make sure every area in Australia has the opportunities for young girls to play the game."