The Vitality Blast Women’s cricket league started on 27th April with the launch of the exciting new look Tier structure in Women’s cricket.
The changes involve shifting from regional teams to county-based teams, to align more closely with the structure of men’s cricket and introducing a three-tier domestic format to provide greater opportunities to assist player development. This reorganisation will benefit from synergies with the existing infrastructure of the men’s game, alongside an increase in funding for the women’s professional game, with a long-term goal to promote parity in pay and working conditions for both male and female players.
Tier 1 teams will be hosted by First Class Counties with eight professional teams (Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire, Somerset, Surrey, Warwickshire, and Nottinghamshire), to bring greater alignment with the structure of the men’s one day game.
For the duration of the 2025-2028 seasons, all three tiers will be “closed,” with no promotion or relegation. However, additions are planned to Tier 1 in the form of Yorkshire who will join from 2026 and Glamorgan who will be allowed in from 2027. While Tier 1 players will be professionals, Tier 2 and 3 teams will be amateur, and there will be no promotion or relegation from Tier 1 until at least 2029.
The ECB has said the move is intended to bring greater visibility for the women’s game, helping to grow its fanbase, and provide a more compelling platform to commercialise women’s cricket. While the current system has successfully improved performance and standards, commercial growth has failed to materialise, with consistently low attendances at regional matches hampering the chance to grow the game financially.
Women’s professional domestic cricket has been in a somewhat chaotic state recently, and this will be the third major upheaval for the women’s game in eight years, while the women’s teams as county entities have existed only since 2020. It is hoped the new look 2025 season will be the shape of things for years to come and alongside the restructuring the ECB also announced an additional £4m-£5m investment per year between 2025 and 2028.
The move is also partly a response to the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket’s report, published in June 2023, which criticised the marginalisation of women’s cricket and found evidence of “a widespread culture of sexism and misogyny” across the professional game. The ECB hopes the plans will address these concerns and could lead to an 80% increase in professional women’s players in England and Wales by 2029.
Under the new model the counties will take over direct responsibility for overseeing and growing women’s teams from the ECB, who have managed the process for the past five years. The three-tier structure aims to provide a pathway for aspiring players, with a clear hierarchy from grassroots to the professional level.
Attracting girls into cricket has faced challenges including negative societal perceptions, limited infrastructure, and the historical dominance of men in the sport. Additionally, issues like sexism and misogyny, a lack of female role models, and disparities in pay and investment further contribute to the problem, while getting even simple changes made to accommodate girls and women (such as not having to wear cricket whites) has traditionally been like pulling teeth.
Increasing the number of professional players by 80% over the next four years is a tall order, and numbers alone will be no guarantee of quality of course. The key thing will be for the counties to grasp the nettle, roll out programmes to encourage girls into cricket across their areas, and for them see this as an opportunity to unearth real gems to develop for the future. Realistically, we’re a decade away at least from seeing today’s 8-10 year olds make it as professional cricket players, but following football’s example to develop a conveyor belt of young talent should be the priority and is crucial to the sustainability and long-term success of the women’s game.
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The above is accurate as at 15 April 2025.
The information above may be subject to change.
The content of this note should not be considered legal advice, and each matter should be considered on a case-by-case basis.
