12 previous centurions in the competition include bona fide legends of Australian sport, from Alyssa Healy\u2019s record-equalling five through to Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, current stars Ash Gardner and Grace Harris and retired legends Elyse Villani and Meg Lanning.<\/p>\n
For women\u2019s cricket pioneer Mel Jones, Knott\u2019s breakthrough is the perfect encapsulation of the WBBL\u2019s steady, consistent progress since making history as the first tournament of its kind in late 2015.<\/p>\n
![\"Charli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/d6a273a3e0460f9cf9c11ff212bc3701.jpeg\")
Charli Knott celebrates her century. (Photo by Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first hundred by a player that\u2019s not on the Australian team – there\u2019s another indication of how the system is building robust players, getting them ready for the next level,\u201d Jones told foxsports.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look at Charli Knott \u2013 she was contracted at 15, and she\u2019s the third-youngest to hit a hundred.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it might sound as if she\u2019s been around a long time and it\u2019s taken some time, but she\u2019s gone through a massive learning curve very, very quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowth spurts and those sorts of things (meant she) probably didn\u2019t get as many opportunities until the last couple of years, when she\u2019s really come through Aus A.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knott might be the first \u2013 but if the rate of growth of the WBBL continues at its current rate, she\u2019ll have company in no time.<\/p>\n
CARNAGE!: Knott’s maiden WBBL ton | 05:33<\/p>\n
NUMBERS BEHIND WBBL\u2019S RAPID RISE<\/p>\n
Across the league, the growing professionalisation of the women\u2019s game since the WBBL\u2019s inception 11 years ago has provided a rising tide that has lifted all boats.<\/p>\n
The numbers reflect this stark growth, too.<\/p>\n
As per Sunday\u2019s double-header in Sydney, the season\u2019s run rate is up to 8.2 per over \u2013 a jump of more than half a run extra each over from just two years ago, and nearly two full runs greater than the inaugural 2015\/16 season.<\/p>\n
The average first innings score has likewise risen dramatically: at just over 161.6 after 16 games, that number has increased consistently, barring the COVID-impacted 2020\/21 and 2021\/22 seasons, from a starting point of 126.<\/p>\n
That the wickets per innings rate sit at a touch above 6, on par with last season and close to the 2015\/16 figure of 6.3, shows bowlers are retaining their ability to influence the game, too.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not surprising that much of this jump coincides nicely with the launch of other major WT20 competitions around the world.<\/p>\n
Where prior to the pandemic the WBBL was unique as a professional franchise women\u2019s cricket competition, it was joined by The Hundred in 2022, and then just months later, the inaugural Women\u2019s Premier League in India.<\/p>\n
It means stars from Mooney to Perry to Phoebe Litchfield and countless others are fast becoming franchise cricket globetrotters around their national duties in a way that mirrors the experience of male players since the IPL\u2019s inception in 2008.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not only the superstars getting this experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they\u2019re full-time professionals in the best (league) in the world, then all of a sudden you\u2019ve got opportunities to be full-time professionals on a global circuit,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re looking at players travelling the world at the moment, naturally our Aussie women\u2019s team players are first and foremost in selections.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then I think we\u2019ve probably got the most of that second tier of player going around playing in the Hundred, the WPL, Caribbean Premier League, Canada Super 60 – your Laura Harrises, your Erin Burnses, your Amanda-Jade Wellingtons.<\/p>\n
Beth Mooney (L) and Ash Gardner celebrate winning the Hundred for Trent Rockets in 2026. (Photo by Philip Brown\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThat in itself I think is a great story piece on how strong our system is and the depth of cricket as well, that you can still be picking up amazing players who aren\u2019t in the national team in Australia, that can be equally as impactful as a national team from another country around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Helping matters further is vastly improved facilities for women\u2019s games no longer an afterthought.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrummoyne Cricket Ground \u2013 the surface there has improved out of sight in the last 12 months,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just the teams (improving) \u2013 it\u2019s everything else around it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thunder vs Scorchers: WBBL Highlights | 14:45<\/p>\n
A TACTICAL REVOLUTION<\/p>\n
With runs at a paramount, teams are also getting funky with their tactics.<\/p>\n
Last Thursday\u2019s Perth Scorchers-Sydney Thunder clash saw women\u2019s cricket legend Sophie Devine voluntarily retire herself out with three overs to go, having scored a, by her standards, lethargic 42 off 39.<\/p>\n
Her replacement, English blaster Freya Kemp, clubbed 30 off just 10 balls with three sixes, an innings that proved priceless in the Scorchers\u2019 narrow 17-run victory.<\/p>\n
And Jones is expecting to see more sophistication \u2013 even if it comes at the expense of the game\u2019s greats \u2013 in the WBBL as teams and players become more practised to a year-round franchise W20 scene.<\/p>\n
And as players like Devine, who retired from international cricket for New Zealand following this year\u2019s T20 World Cup, transition into passing on their wisdom through coaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just shifts the mindset of the game to involve players when they get retired, or potentially retire themselves, to recognise the forefront of their mind rather than how they\u2019re tracking themselves,\u201d Jones said of the shift.<\/p>\n
Renegades win on last ball in Hobart | 01:19<\/p>\n
THE RISING TIDE<\/p>\n
Growing depth has also allowed teams to focus on balancing their teams \u2013 particularly when it comes to late-order hitters like Kemp.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecently, I think the power element has been highlighted more, whereby overseas players are afraid,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat number six position isn\u2019t just a person who can come in and doodle the ball around and find a couple of little boundaries here and there.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at the Scorchers and they\u2019ve got a New Zealander (Devine), an Englishwoman (Kemp) and the Pakistan captain (Fatima Sana). I think there\u2019s a better understanding of who fits into their home-grown talent to best bring up that talent, but also shine in their own perspective roles as well. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust the understanding of the game and what works best for your team has improved too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get that, you get closer matches, because you\u2019re not just relying on an overseas or your Australian player as many times. You\u2019ve got some space for the home-grown talent to come up and shine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gone are the days when Ashleigh Barty, amid a sabbatical from tennis before restarting her extraordinary career, could rise in a matter of months from Brisbane premier women\u2019s cricket competitions to playing for the Heat in their inaugural BBL season.<\/p>\n
The queue is just too packed nowadays.<\/p>\n
HOW AUSSIE \u2018CUSTODIANS\u2019 HAVE MADE THE WBBL GREAT<\/p>\n
Perhaps the WBBL\u2019s greatest asset \u2013 and in contrast with the men\u2019s BBL \u2013 is the availability of the best players in Australia and around the world to feature.<\/p>\n
With a summer window all to itself, Perry, one of 21 players to feature in all 12 editions of the tournament, has played 149 games and counting for the Sixers \u2013 and is going as well as ever.<\/p>\n
By comparison, Steve Smith, the pre-eminent men\u2019s player of his generation, has played just 40 despite having a four-year head start on Perry, including a six-year gap between games from 2013\/14 to 2019\/20.<\/p>\n
The presence of the best in the business has not only elevated the status of the tournament around the world, but also set a high standard for players coming through.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t put a price tag on it,\u201d Jones says of the Australian stars\u2019 dedication to the WBBL over more than a decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause they were there at the start and they knew just how important this competition was, not only for Australian cricket but for world cricket, there is an investment in it personally from them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to be leading Australian sport and Australian cricket, but they also knew they were almost custodians of that transition phase. And I think they\u2019ve been outstanding on that front.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people think, oh well it\u2019s a come down from going away and winning a T20 World Cup, but they just flick a switch straight into just the importance of it (the WBBL).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe younger players, they see that, they feed off that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a real genuine approach to wanting to be there and wanting to perform (at) their best, but also bringing everyone else along for the ride as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no doubt that Australia winning World Cups, and then fast-forwarding it to winning future World Cups, is because of these types of players and the way in which they\u2019ve invested their time and energy and skills into the WBBL.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellyse Perry celebrates another half-century for the Sixers on Sunday. (Photo by Jason McCawley\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
And it hasn\u2019t just been a standard-bearer for Australian cricket, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you asked any overseas player, all things being equal, they would want to come and play in the WBBL, because of the quality of the competition and how it challenges you,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
Off-field, the access to the best is just as noteworthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got some of the best T20 coaches in the world coming in and bringing their knowledge of the women\u2019s game, which I think is really important,\u201d Jones told foxsports.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cList managers are across what\u2019s best for their team and who best to come in \u2013 that (Fatima) Sana selection, I thought was brilliant from the Scorchers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stars v Scorchers Highlights | WBBL 12 | 13:39<\/p>\n
WHAT\u2019S NEXT?<\/p>\n
Despite its status, the league cannot rest on its laurels.<\/p>\n
Big Bash Leagues general manager Alistair Dobson was adamant in pre-season that the WBBL remains the premier competition in women\u2019s cricket, despite the enormous financial pull of the WPL and growing influence of the Hundred in England.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s most definitely got to keep pressure-testing certain elements of the entire competition,\u201d Jones said, citing a schedule that remains weekday heavy during the school term as an area of improvement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough with the WPL in the middle of January, but we want to see our international stars and Aussie players be as accessible as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a number of things we can look at to keep it ahead of the other leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Knott\u2019s breakthrough century was the most shining example yet that Cricket Australia\u2019s decade-long investment in the WBBL is paying off handsomely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A slice of Women\u2019s Big Bash League history was created in the first week of the 2026\/27 season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":958143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-958142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/958143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}