The overhaul of the women's domestic structure or 'Project Darwin', will see counties given back control over the women's domestic game. Eight fully professional Tier One sides will take over from the previously existing regions from 2025, with Yorkshire and Glamorgan joining their ranks in 2026 and 2027 respectively. Below that will be Tier Two and Three sides, which are a mixture of semi-professional and amateur teams overseen by counties.

A key aim of the restructure was creating greater scale and visibility for the women's game to accelerate team and player fandom, as well as establishing a more compelling platform to commercialise women's cricket. It was announced today (November 21) that the newly aligned men's and women's T20 Blast would feature 52 men's and women's double-header matches, with a new women's Finals Day to be played at The Oval on July 27.

In an exclusive interview with Wisden Cricket Women's Weekly podcast, Barrett-Wild stressed the importance of the women's domestic game establishing its own audience as well as aligning with existing county fanbases.

“I almost see it as us giving them [the counties] a gift,” said Barrett-Wild. “Because we’re giving them the opportunity for their women’s team to reach a new audience. With the Blast, we’ve got over 50 double-headers across Tier One and Tier Two, and we’ve also got two thirds of standalone fixtures. Those standalone fixtures for the women are going to be really important in terms of how they start to build their own individual fanbase.

“There are things we can do very quickly, but it is going to take time. We have to be really realistic that this isn’t going to be an overnight that we’ve suddenly got hundreds of thousands of people coming to watch women’s domestic cricket. It’s the same for the men. Outside of the Blast, they don’t have so many fans following those.”

Barrett-Wild also reiterated that this was the "final chapter" on the structure of the women's professional game in England and Wales after three separate restructures over the past eight years.

“I’ll be candid, there probably was a point this time last year where I was nervous about the appetite within the counties to really take this on, because it is a massive undertaking,” said Barrett-Wild. “This is pure ownership, responsibility and accountability for the women’s team in a way that perhaps hasn’t been there before in the regional model.

“I’m at pains to say this, I’ve read and heard narrative around how the women’s game is constantly changing, and I absolutely understand that that can be met with an element of disgruntlement, but this is here to stay now. This is the final chapter, albeit always evolving.”

Following the initial announcement of Tier One sides earlier this year, Yorkshire expressed their "disappointment" over not being awarded a Tier One side from 2025. While Yorkshire were guaranteed a Tier One side by 2027, it was later confirmed they would join the other Tier One sides in 2026.

“The Yorkshire situation was very difficult for everybody involved,” said Barrett-Wild. “It’s important to recognise that a series of decisions were made over a particular point of time, which was April 2024, when the club was in a challenging position. I think it still is in a challenging position from a financial standpoint, that’s been well-publicised. I think that was a difficult period for their executive leadership and who was in the club at that point, and there’s probably some governance bits and pieces there.

“There was an impassioned response from Yorkshire about them wanting to move quickly. I spent a lot of time talking to the players and this whole process has been quite unsettling for the players.

“Some of the senior players within that Northern Diamonds dressing room, the likes of Katie Levick and Lauren Winfield-Hill, what I was hearing a lot was that question mark of ‘is it 2026 or is it 2027? How are we supposed to make decisions about where we want to play our cricket in 2025 if we don’t know what’s happening with Yorkshire?’ So the 'by' 2027 was concreted into a particular year. That’s why it ended up being in 2026. It was a collective recognition that we needed to give some certainty to an unsettling, uncertain situation.”

Barrett-Wild also expanded on the effect private investment in The Hundred could have on the women's competition. The ECB is currently in the process of selling off 49 per cent shares in each of the eight Hundred sides to private investors from the 2025 edition of the competition onwards. Concerns have been raised about the effects the ECB relinquishing control of the tournament could have on the women's competition, which has been the flagship success of The Hundred.

“I’m very confident that the women’s team is part and parcel of what the investors are buying,” said Barrett-Wild. “It is unique, and it’s quite appealing. The opportunity within that money coming into the game will have will just be another accelerant. It will be more investment into women’s cricket and it will help us accelerate things around player pay and opportunities there. I’m very optimistic about what can happen through the sale of The Hundred teams.

“There are lots of lawyers working behind the scenes to make sure we have the various contracts and requirements in place. Within that, there are some guardrails or red lines of things that cannot be changed - the format itself and the approach with the men’s and the women’s double headers are very much a part of that. There will be some guardrails in that to make sure decisions are being made in that gender-balanced lens which to date has been a really key component of how we established the competition.”

You can listen to the full interview with Barrett-Wild on the Wisden Women's Cricket Weekly podcast.

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