Local players

The table below lists local player movements made ahead of the season.

Overseas players

The table below lists changes to overseas player allocations made before and during the season.

More information Player, Departed ...

Player	Departed	→	Joined	Notes	Ref(s)
Amelia Kerr	–	→	Brisbane Heat	Returning to the Brisbane Heat	[27]
Maddy Green	–	→	Perth Scorchers	Previously played for the Brisbane Heat	[28]
Chamari Athapaththu	Perth Scorchers	→	Melbourne Renegades	Returning to the Melbourne Renegades Replacement player	[7][29]
Lizelle Lee	–	→	Hobart Hurricanes	Third WBBL team (previously played for the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades)	[30]
Pooja Vastrakar	–	→	Brisbane Heat		[31]
Deandra Dottin	–	→	Adelaide Strikers	Third WBBL team (previously played for the Perth Scorchers and Brisbane Heat)	[22]
Issy Wong	Sydney Thunder	→	Hobart Hurricanes	Withdrew due to injury	[32][33]
Hayley Matthews	–	→	Melbourne Renegades	Previously played for the Hobart Hurricanes	[34]
Danni Wyatt	–	→	Brisbane Heat	Previously played for the Melbourne Renegades	[35]
Shabnim Ismail	–	→	Melbourne Renegades	Returning to the Melbourne Renegades Previously played for the Sydney Thunder	[36]
Jemimah Rodrigues	Melbourne Renegades	→	Melbourne Stars		[37]
Dane van Niekerk	Adelaide Strikers	→	–		[8]
Anneke Bosch	Brisbane Heat	→	–		[8]
Nadine de Klerk	Brisbane Heat	→	–		[8]
Poonam Yadav	Brisbane Heat	→	–		[8]
Rachel Priest	Hobart Hurricanes	→	–	Outgoing captain (5–8 win–loss record)	[8]
Richa Ghosh	Hobart Hurricanes	→	–		[8]
Eve Jones	–	→	Melbourne Renegades	Replacement player Returning to the Melbourne Renegades	[8][12]
Alice Capsey	–	→	Melbourne Stars		[38]
Sophie Ecclestone	–	→	Sydney Sixers		[39]
Tammy Beaumont	–	→	Sydney Thunder	Returning to the Sydney Thunder	[40]
Suzie Bates	–	→	Sydney Sixers	Third WBBL team (previously played for the Perth Scorchers and Adelaide Strikers)	[41]
Lauren Winfield-Hill	–	→	Melbourne Stars	Fourth WBBL team (previously played for the Brisbane Heat, Hobart Hurricanes and Adelaide Strikers)	[42]
Chloe Tryon	–	→	Sydney Thunder	Previously played for the Hobart Hurricanes	[43]
Amy Jones	–	→	Sydney Thunder	Third WBBL team (previously played for the Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers)	[44]
Hayley Jensen	–	→	Hobart Hurricanes	Replacement player Returning to the Hobart Hurricanes	[33]
Jess Kerr	–	→	Brisbane Heat	Replacement player	[45]
Lea Tahuhu	–	→	Sydney Thunder	Previously played for the Melbourne Renegades Replacement player	[12]
Maia Bouchier	Melbourne Stars	→	–		[9]
Linsey Smith	Melbourne Stars	→	–		[9]
Shafali Verma	Sydney Sixers	→	–		[9]
Radha Yadav	Sydney Sixers	→	–		[9]
Smriti Mandhana	Sydney Thunder	→	–		[9]
Deepti Sharma	Sydney Thunder	→	–		[9]
Bess Heath	–	→	Melbourne Stars	Replacement player	[46]

Close

Leadership

Coaching changes made ahead of the season included:

• Jonathan Batty was appointed head coach of the Melbourne Stars, replacing Jarrad Loughman.^[47]
• Charlotte Edwards was appointed head coach of the Sydney Sixers, replacing Ben Sawyer.^[48]
• Dan Marsh was appointed head coach the Hobart Hurricanes, replacing Salliann Beams.^[9]

Captaincy changes made ahead of the season included:

• Elyse Villani was appointed captain of the Hobart Hurricanes, replacing Rachel Priest (5–8 win–loss record).^[19]
• Nicole Faltum was appointed captain of the Melbourne Stars, replacing Meg Lanning (27–25 win–loss record).^[49]

Captaincy changes made during the season included:

• Hayley Matthews stood in as acting captain of the Melbourne Renegades for two games, after Sophie Molineux sustained a knee injury.^[50]
• Megan Schutt stood in as acting captain of the Adelaide Strikers for two games while Tahlia McGrath was rested with a back complaint.^[51][52]

Background

The Sydney Sixers reached their fifth WBBL Final, having appeared in each of the league's first four championship deciders. They became the second team in the competition's history (following the Melbourne Stars in WBBL|06) to reach the Final after finishing the previous season in last place. WBBL|08 Sixers squad members Erin Burns, Lauren Cheatle, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry were all part of the team's title-winning campaign in WBBL|03. Gardner, Healy and Perry were also part of the team's title-winning campaign in WBBL|02.

The Adelaide Strikers reached their second-consecutive WBBL Final, and third in four seasons. Suzie Bates, overseas marquee player for the Sydney Sixers in WBBL|08, was the captain of the Strikers in WBBL|05 when they were defeated in the championship decider by the Brisbane Heat. Jemma Barsby and Laura Wolvaardt are the only WBBL|08 Strikers squad members to have previously been part of a title-winning campaign, having played for the Heat when they defeated the Sixers in the WBBL|04 Final.

The Sixers and Strikers had never previously met in a championship decider. The only prior meeting in the knockout phase occurred during WBBL|03, when the Sixers recorded a 17-run semi-final defeat of the Strikers. The WBBL|08 Final would be the 18th overall encounter between the two teams, with the Sixers holding a 12–5 head-to-head edge. It would be the second Final held at North Sydney Oval, following the WBBL|06 Final between the Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder, making it the first venue to host multiple championship deciders.^[64]

Although the Sydney Sixers and Adelaide Strikers had never met in a WBBL Final before, several players from both sides were involved in the 2015–16 WNCL final between New South Wales (Cheatle, Healy and Perry) and South Australia (Tahlia McGrath, Tegan McPharlin, Bridget Patterson, Megan Schutt and Amanda-Jade Wellington). The match, which South Australia won by 54 runs, was notable for marking the end of New South Wales' ten-year championship streak in the national 50-over competition.^[65]

Match summary

Laura Wolvaardt and Katie Mack put on a 51-run first-wicket stand for the Strikers, though both players were then removed within the space of six balls. Mack (31 off 26) became just the second batter in WBBL history (following Suzie Bates in WBBL|02) to be dismissed hit wicket.^[67] Deandra Dottin survived two close calls in the ninth over off the bowling of Kate Peterson—first a catch put down by Nicole Bolton at point, then a catch taken from a waist-high no ball. The next over Dottin was caught again, but this time she was granted a reprieve due to Ellyse Perry committing a front-foot no ball.^[5]

Scoring slowed notably between the 13th and 17th overs of the innings, and the trio of McGrath, Patterson and Madeline Penna all fell in that period. The Sixers were made to pay for their earlier missed opportunities when Dottin launched a six off Gardner in the 18th over, then hit a four and another six off the last two balls of the Peterson-delivered 19th over. Having set the favourites a target of 148 for victory, general consensus among commentators was the Strikers had been restricted to a below-par total.^[4][5][68]

The run chase began after an unusual twelve-minute delay, caused by a complaint from Sixers batter Suzie Bates about the setting sun impairing her vision.^[68] The Strikers quickly claimed ascendancy in the contest, as the hosts found themselves down 4/16 in the sixth over. Nicole Bolton (32 off 27) and Perry (33 off 32) helped their team recover via a 60-run partnership, though each batter would be bowled by McGrath and Darcie Brown in the 14th and 15th over respectively.

Sophie Ecclestone and Maitlan Brown combined to clear the rope four times late in the innings, while the Strikers made several errors in the field which kept the door ajar.^[69] Nevertheless, wickets continued to fall, and the task became too much for the Sixers after Ecclestone was deceived by a Megan Schutt slower ball. Facing Amanda-Jade Wellington's leg spin, Maitlan Brown hit the last delivery of the match in the air to long-on, which Wolvaardt successfully juggled and consequently sealed a ten-run victory for the Strikers.

Post-match

Barbadian marquee Deandra Dottin became the third-consecutive overseas signing to be named Player of the Match in a WBBL Final.^[70] The Strikers became the fifth team to win a WBBL title, leaving the Hobart Hurricanes, Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Stars as the three remaining teams yet to claim a championship. Wicket-keeper Tegan McPharlin retired from cricket at the conclusion of the match, having played 109 WBBL matches for the Strikers and 86 WNCL matches for South Australia.^[71][72][73]

Adding insult to injury for the losing team, the Sixers were deemed to be one over behind the over rate for the match, which triggered an automatic one-game suspension for captain Ellyse Perry (to be served at the beginning of WBBL|09).^[74]