The timing of the women’s Twenty20 World Cup in India has forced the WBBL season to start later than usual. The season will now kick off on November 9 – a week after the World Cup final – with an eye-catching triple-header across two different venues. The later start has ruled out Optus Stadium, the Gabba, SCG and MCG because those venues will either be in use or being prepped for the Ashes. But Adelaide Oval will still host two matches in the back half of the season on November 28. SEE FULL WBBL|11 FIXTURE HERE Despite the clash of venues, the WBBL fixture will leverage the interest of the Ashes with the timing of games during Test matches. A match will be played on the first morning of the Ashes in Hobart and will begin at 10am to capitalise on the time zone difference to Perth. There will then be a match starting at 8.50pm at the WACA on the same night to capture the supporters leaving the Test yearning for more action. BBL general manager Alistair Dobson was confident the Ashes-aligned fixture would draw sustained interest and backed the stadium series to return in future seasons. “Each season when we look at the season, we always look for the balance of the right venues and opportunities to promote those games,” Dobson said. “We enjoy playing in those bigger stadiums for the past couple of seasons and looking forward to being back at the Adelaide Oval this year. “The other games, largely due to scheduling reasons and needing to optimise those games in those big stadiums, we haven’t found the right slot for them as closely this year. “Playing all the Sixers games at North Sydney Oval and the Stars games will be back at CitiPower Centre and the Gabba is out of action due to the Test match. “We haven’t been able to find the right slot this year, but that’s not to say we won’t be back there in the future because the world’s best cricket league in the world’s best stadiums is still part of our thinking going forward.” The WBBL final will be played the night before the BBL season begins. It’s the closest the two seasons have been and – according to Dobson – will ever be. “The WBBL is the world’s best cricket league for women and one of the most watched and popular sports leagues in Australia,” he said. “We think that warrants having it in its own stand-alone window to able to leverage prime-time audiences in its own place in the cricket calendar.”