What does Australia's Hundred dominance mean for women's cricket?

Southern Brave had just dismissed Australia star Phoebe Litchfield, and they were in with a chance - Northern Superchargers were wobbling at 59-3 in pursuit of 116 to win The Hundred, and their leading run-scorer was back in the dugout.

One more wicket and the final would really be in the balance.

Except, Brave's players were given a taste of England's Ashes experience earlier this year: the world-class Australians just kept coming.

Nicola Carey embodies the staggering strength in depth of world cricket's juggernaut - the all-rounder has not played for Australia since 2022 but came in at number five and cruised to 35 from 25 balls, leading the Superchargers to victory with 12 balls to spare.

In an unbeaten stand of 60 with fellow Australian all-rounder Annabel Sutherland, there were no more nerves or wobbles. In fact, they barely broke a sweat.

It is not breaking news that Australia are the dominant force in women's cricket. Since 2018, they have won three T20 World Cups, a 50-over World Cup and the Commonwealth Games title, while England have not won the Ashes since 2014.

Therefore it is not a surprise their players are the most sought-after in the era of franchise cricket. But even players who cannot break into the Australia side, including Carey, Jess Jonassen and Amanda-Jade Wellington, are able to dominate.

But what does this mean for the wider women's game, and for domestic players in The Hundred who may struggle to break through as a result?

Australians made up just over 16% of The Hundred's women's squads this year, with 17 featuring out of 105.

Comparatively, there were two players from New Zealand and West Indies and four South Africans.

The Aussies particularly dominated with the bat, accounting for four of the top 10 run-scorers in the competition, including player of the tournament Litchfield at the helm with 292. She was closely followed on 287 by former Australia captain Meg Lanning - another who no longer plays for the national team.

Altogether, Australians scored 2,495 runs at an average of 25.45 while England-qualified players (73 players, just shy of 70%) scored 3,995 at 15.85. If we look purely at top-six batters, the gap remains: Australians averaging 26.62 and the English contingent 19.48.

The visiting superstars also scored 11 fifties to England's 15, while Grace Harris, Carey and Litchfield had the highest strike-rates, and four of the top five six-hitters were Australian.

They were not quite as dominant with the ball, with England's Lauren Bell enjoying a stellar tournament with 19 wickets, but still accounted for 23% of all wickets taken.

This is another big reason as to why so many Australians are selected, because of the sheer number of all-rounders they produce.

Ellyse Perry, Ash Gardner, Sutherland, Jonassen, Carey - alongside the likes of Marizanne Kapp and Hayley Matthews of other nationalities - will almost always deliver 20 balls or four overs, depending on the format, and bat in the top five.

This, however, means quite a few teams field players who are almost making up the numbers in terms of batting in the lower order and not bowling.

Perry, Gardner and Beth Mooney also captained sides this year, but after post-Ashes criticism regarding a lack of succession planning for the end of Heather Knight's England reign, there has been some improvement in this regard - the Hundred final, for example, featured two English domestic captains in Hollie Armitage and Georgia Adams. Charlie Dean also led well for London Spirit in the absence of Knight.

It has historically been difficult for uncapped domestic players to compete in the tournament, but there have been glimpses of brilliance this year to suggest that trend might begin to change.

London Spirit's Kira Chathli was only called up as a replacement player for the injured Knight, but she ended the tournament as the sixth-highest run-scorer and the only non-international player in the top 10.

Similarly, 18-year-old Davina Perrin provided the moment of the tournament with her stunning 42-ball century in the Eliminator, arguably the finest knock in the competition's five years and a display of dominance far greater than any other international player had managed this year.

But with increased investment and England's vastly improved domestic structure now in place, it is vital that these moments are no longer considered an anomaly.

Former England bowler Anya Shrubsole played for Southern Brave in the first three editions of The Hundred before her retirement and says the positives of having Australian players involved outweighs any of the other concerns around their dominance.

An up-and-coming English player, an example being young spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman for Brave, is likely to learn a lot about her game and the standard required for international cricket by bowling at Litchfield in the pressure moments of a Hundred final.

"There are so many benefits to having them in a tournament and I think the main one is you have international players, England players, domestic players who get to see first-hand what those players do, how they go about things to be successful," Shrubsole told BBC Sport.

"From my point of view, if you're switched on enough and asking enough questions, that can't help but benefit you as a cricketer.

"It's great for the tournament and if you pay enough attention it's good for individual cricketers' development."

The other argument could be that their dominance may be holding back domestic players from developing.

All-rounder Fi Morris played six games for Manchester Originals this year and only batted three times and did not bowl. While she acknowledges the concerns, Morris shares Shrubsole's view that the learning opportunities are far greater with the Australian contingent around.

"I'm not a young player coming through the ranks, but I can definitely see that point of view," Morris, 31, told BBC Sport.

"Are you going to gain more from spending three weeks talking to Meg Lanning about batting and learning from her in training, or are you going to gain more from batting a little bit higher in the order?

"That's where I think the overseas [players] in general, or every overseas that I've ever worked with, has been absolutely fantastic and massively approachable and really receptive to just passing on their knowledge in the game."

Branching out from The Hundred specifically, this does pose a problem for the wider women's game as franchise tournaments continue to grow.

As of next year, The Hundred will join India's Women's Premier League with teams being owned privately - Australia's Women's Big Bash League is currently the exception from the biggest three.

Their priority will be to win, and that will require the best players, and the vast majority of those overseas will be Australian.

From this perspective, how can the struggling West Indies develop the next Hayley Matthews? How does a promising young all-rounder like South Africa's Annerie Dercksen get her breakthrough?

Shrubsole says the recruitment of Australians is somewhat inevitable in franchise cricket now, but she points to domestic set-ups as a way to support other countries, saying: "You can't have it all. You can't have these private investors who have paid millions of pounds and say: 'Oh, by the way, you can't pick that many players because actually we want to develop our own.'

"The reality is that the priority is going to be winning. The broadcasters want the best players available because you're going to have the best cricket and the new owners are going to want the best players available because they have a better chance of success.

"So with a country like New Zealand who have got lots of up-and-coming players, similarly with South Africa, can they find a way to get their players in our domestic structure or Australia's?

"There's a bit of a kind of 'England, Australia, merry-go-round' at the moment."

Morris also points to the global issue, and calls for more franchise tournaments around the world.

"The men have got the ILT20, they've got the PSL, they've got the CPL, they've got the SA20," Morris said.

"So I think we need those smaller tournaments and those tournaments around the globe that might clash with an Ashes series, so then people from other countries get more of an opportunity.

"I think that's for sure a global issue that needs addressing and needs improving."

With the announcement of increased prize money for the upcoming Women's World Cup, there is a strong possibility that Australian cricket pockets the £3.3m top prize - India and England are the only other likely contenders.

The prospect of other countries catching up with those three is already highly unlikely.

The concern is that it will soon be impossible.