Women’s cricket Super League to be broadcast on Sky Sports

The exposure of women’s cricket will be given a boost after Sky Sports has plumped to broadcast matches from the burgeoning Kia Super League.

Seven matches from the 2017 season will be shown by the pay-TV broadcaster, including the Finals Day on 1 September.

The other six fixtures will be broadcast as double headers alongside male Twenty20 Blast matches.

Sky Sports will pay the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) no additional revenue to broadcast the matches. The broadcaster and the governing body have an existing rights deal, which runs until 2019.

The second edition of the Super League will feature the same six teams – Lancashire Thunder, Loughborough Lightning, Southern Vipers, Surrey Stars, Western Storm and Yorkshire Diamonds – as the inaugural competition last year, taking part in a round robin format.

The tournament will take place over 17 days between 10 and 26 August, and will take place at 13 different venues.

BBC Radio will also cover every round of matches.

“At the end of last summer, I said that I was immensely proud of what the Kia Super League had achieved during its first season, but equally I stressed that there was still considerable growth potential for the competition,” said ECB director of women’s cricket Clare Connor.

“Alongside the ICC Women’s World Cup in June and July, we have a brilliant opportunity to showcase the sport this summer, grow our participation base and inspire more fans than ever before to watch and get involved in women’s cricket.”

The first season of the Super League drew in a combined spectatorship of 15,000.