Border closures, COVID force more domestic changes

The pandemic has forced further changes to the domestic 50-over Women's National Cricket League schedule ahead of next week's season start.

Western Australia's double header against South Australia, due to be played at the WACA Ground next Friday and Sunday, has been postponed to March 1 and 3, with the Scorpions unable to travel to Perth due to border closures.

FULL WNCL SCHEDULE

Meanwhile several matches between Victoria, the ACT and New South Wales have been rescheduled after a player in the ACT high performance program tested positive to COVID-19.

A number of ACT players and staff, including Meteors players, were forced into a seven-day period of isolation, leaving them with insufficient time to prepare for their scheduled tournament opener against Victoria on Thursday December 16.

The Meteors will instead begin their season against New South Wales on January 6.

New South Wales - who were already set to travel to Melbourne to play Victoria on December 19 - will also play Victoria on Friday December 17 at the Junction Oval.

Reigning champions Queensland will still launch their title defence on December 17 in Hobart against a Tasmanian side that has added Molly Strano and Elyse Villani to its ranks.

The changes mean Ashes hopefuls including WA leggie Alana King and SA leggie Amanda-Jade Wellington will have to wait until the new year to show selectors what they can do in the 50-over format, after standout WBBL campaigns.

The start of the 29-game season had already been postponed from September due to state border closures but as it stands it will still conclude as planned on March 6.

In a first, every match of the 2021-22 season will be live streamed free for fans in Australia on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app, while all games will also be streamed on Kayo Sports.

In past seasons, only the final was consistently live streamed each year, with other matches at streamed by the host state on an ad-hoc basis.

It builds on the work started last season, when the quantity and quality of WNCL streaming increased dramatically, and 19 of 29 matches were live streamed by cricket.com.au, with a portion of those featuring on Kayo.

Australia's squad members will be available for the first half of the season – playing up to four matches each – but international duties will keep them out of the second half and the final.

The 12 matches played across December and January will present Australia's stars with a chance to prepare for the Commonwealth Bank Ashes and ODI World Cup, and offer those on the fringes of the squad a chance to make a statement to national selectors.

The second half of the season will play out across an action-packed fortnight in February and early March, with 16 matches in 18 days ahead of the final on March 6.

Matches are scheduled across all six states and the ACT but, while most borders around Australia are set to be opening when the tournament starts, a lack of clarity around WA's border could force further changes to the schedule.

WA are due to travel to Hobart for two matches against Tasmania in January.