The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Tuesday announced that the upcoming women’s domestic 50-over competition will be named the “Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy” in honour of England’s pioneering World Cup-winning captain. The special-edition competition has been created for this summer only to ensure women’s domestic cricket is played despite the challenges of COVID-19. The competition will begin on the August Bank Holiday weekend and it will feature eight teams from the new elite domestic structure playing in two regionalised groups of four.

Each team will be playing six group-stage matches with the top team in each group to progress to a final to be staged on Saturday, 26 September.

The final will be hosted by the finalist with the most points at the end of the group stage.

“I’m delighted that, despite the obvious challenges of COVID-19, we have been able to continue to build the new women’s elite domestic structure to the point that we’ll see the eight regions playing 50-over cricket this summer. Off the back of appointing the eight Regional Directors of Women’s Cricket and awarding Regional Retainers, we have worked closely with colleagues across the men’s domestic game to ensure we are able to stage domestic women’s cricket safely and at high-quality venues,” ECB’s Managing Director of Women’s Cricket, Clare Connor, said in an official statement.

Baroness Rachael Heyhoe Flint OBE was a trailblazer for women’s sport as she led England to the first-ever Cricket World Cup title in 1973 while off the field her tireless determination for equality laid the foundations for the opportunities presented to modern-day players.

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Heyhoe Flint played 22 Tests and 23 ODIs during a 19-year England career and she is also a member of the ICC Hall of Fame.

The Women’s Cricketer of the Year award was created and named after Heyhoe Flint in 2017 as a tribute to her following her death, aged 77, that year.