Women's Twenty20 cricket

Women's Twenty20 cricket is the newly emerging use of the Twenty20 match format in women's cricket. While both women's cricket and Twenty20 have themselves enjoyed recent success, women's Twenty20 has only been an international cricket game format since 2004. In June 2009, the ICC held the first ICC Women's World Twenty20 in England, the hosts became the first World Twenty20 champion.

Format

Main article: Twenty20

The format of women's Twenty20 is no different from that of the men's sport:

• Should a bowler deliver a no ball by overstepping the popping crease, it costs 1 run and her next delivery is designated a free-hit, from which the batsman can only be dismissed through a run out, for hitting the ball twice, obstructing the field or handling the ball, as is the case for the original "no ball".
• Bowlers may bowl a maximum of only 4 overs per innings.
• Umpires may award 5-run penalty runs at their discretion if they believe either team is wasting time.
• If the fielding team do not start to bowl their 20th over within 75 minutes, the batting side is credited an extra 6 runs for every whole over bowled after the 75 minute mark; the umpire may add more time to this, if he considers the batting team is wasting time.
• The following fielding restrictions apply:
  • No more than 5 fielders can be on the leg side at any time.
  • During the first 6 overs, a maximum of 2 fielders can be outside the 23-metre circle.
  • After the first 6 overs, a maximum of 5 fielders can be outside the fielding circle.
• If the match ends with the scores tied and there must be a winner, the tie is broken with a bowl-out (similar to a penalty shoot-out in football), with 5 bowlers from each side delivering 2 balls each at an unguarded wicket. If the number of wickets is equal after the first 10 balls per side, the bowling continues and is decided by sudden death.

See also

• Women's Twenty20 International