CA 'actively looking' at schedule for Aussie women: Greenberg

Cricket Australia boss Todd Greenberg said different playing windows for the national women's team are being explored after Beth Mooney and Ellyse Perry highlighted frustrations with the schedule.

Australia begin their home summer against Bangladesh on Friday, the first of three ODIs in Brisbane, before they face New Zealand in three T20s in Sydney. New Zealand then return for ODIs in March – but Australia's women will not play any internationals on home soil in between.

In the years since the Covid pandemic, women's international matches in Australia had found a more regular slot in the calendar in and around the KFC BBL during the latter half of January, until India's Women's Premier League shifted from March into the key summer timeslot last year.

"We don't want to be the sport that falls behind because we're just getting it wrong," star wicketkeeper-bat Beth Mooney told AAP this week. "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.

"If we're not front and centre of the summer it makes it pretty difficult when it's meant to be a summer sport."

Veteran allrounder Ellyse Perry said Mooney's comments were "more than fair" but was hopeful there is "still some wiggle room" in the schedule. 

"I think everyone feels the challenge at the moment from a scheduling perspective that we're not able to play in the peak months of summer when people are really tuned into cricket and it's at the forefront of their minds," Perry said in Brisbane today.

"So there's a challenge for us there because I think our team's been really successful, and I think we've got some wonderful support from fans right around the country - (we) just don't have the opportunity to play in front of them enough.

"And that's from a global perspective because there's so much cricket on, and it's a really jam-packed schedule.

"But hopefully, particularly in the women's game still, there is some wiggle room to try and reshuffle the cards so we can play at home more."

Although the ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the next few home summers looks similar with the majority of matches to be played in February-March, discussions are underway to assess CA's options, with CA's Chief of Cricket James Allsopp meeting with the Aussie team in Brisbane this week to address the issue. 

"We're looking at that actively," Greenberg told reporters in Durban on Tuesday. "James Allsop led the conversation with the Australian women's team about this exact issue.

"We're talking, we've got dialogue with them. We would love to see more cricket played in this window (but) we have to understand again the global components.

"We just have to work around some of the constraints and try to get creative."

One option understood to be on the table is moving the Weber WBBL later in the year, possibly with some crossover with the men's KFC BBL and a potential return of double-header matches. 

That could also include a scenario where a day of men's Test cricket would roll into a women's T20I.

Under the current FTP for the women's game, which runs until March 2029, the only home matches for Australia scheduled for December or January in the next three seasons is a home series against Ireland (three ODIs, three T20Is) in December 2028.

Australia are scheduled for a three-ODI tour of Sri Lanka this December, and in will travel to India in December 2027 in a multi-format series that will span over New Year's and into January 2028.

NRMA Insurance Women's ODI Series v Bangladesh

All matches will be shown live on Seven, 7Plus, Kayo Sports and Foxtel

First ODI: Friday, October 9 (D/N)

Second ODI: Sunday, October 11 (D/N)

Third ODI: Wednesday, October 14 (D/N)

* All matches played at Allan Border Field, Brisbane, starting at 2:50pm AEDT

Australia ODI squad: Tahlia McGrath (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

Bangladesh ODI squad: Nigar Sultana (c), Nahida Akter, Shorna Akter, Marufa Akter, Rabeya Khan, Ritu Moni, Sobhana Mostary, Sarmin Sultana, Sharmin Akter, Sanjida Akther, Sultana Khatun, Dilara Akter, Farzana Haque, Disha Biswas, Murshida Khatun, Habiba Islam

NRMA Insurance Women's T20 Series v New Zealand

All matches will be shown live on Seven, 7Plus, Kayo Sports and Foxtel

First T20I: Sunday, October 18

Second T20I: Tuesday, October 20

Third T20I: Thursday, October 22

* All matches played at North Sydney Oval starting at 7:15pm AEDT

Australia T20I squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

New Zealand T20I squad: Melie Kerr (c), Eden Carson, Flora Devonshire, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Bree Illing, Polly Inglis (wk), Bella James, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Nensi Patel, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Izzy Sharp