Southern Vipers to start defence of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl

They host Loughborough Lightning on Saturday, May 29, before a trip South East Stars (Monday, May 31), a home game with Central Sparks (Saturday, June 5) and a visit to Western Storm (Saturday, June 12) complete the first block of 50-over fixtures.

Following a period of T20 action, Vipers return to complete the Trophy group stage, traveling to Lancashire Thunder (Friday, September 10) and Sunrisers (Sunday, September 12) before returning home for the final fixture on Sunday, September 18, against Northern Diamonds.

Each team will play against each other once during the group stage. The team that tops the table after the group stage will advance to the final on September 25.

The second and third-placed teams at the end of the group stage will meet in a playoff on September 22 with the winner also progressing to the final.

The venues for the play-off and for the final are to be confirmed.

Last year the Vipers - skippered by Georgia Adams - won all six south group matches before beating north group winners Northern Diamonds by 38 runs in the final at Edgbaston.

The Women’s Regional T20 starts on Saturday, June 26, with the eight teams split into two groups of four and each team playing three home and three away matches during the group stage.

Central Sparks will be Vipers’ opponents in the competition curtain-raiser at Edgbaston.

Other games

Loughborough Lightning (Saturday, July 2, home)

South East Stars (Saturday, July 9, home)

Central Sparks (Wednesday, August 25, home)

Surrey Stars (Saturday, August 28, away)

Loughborough Lightning (Monday, August 30, away)

Finals Day takes place on Sunday, September 5.

The best group winner progresses immediately to the final with the semi-final on Finals Day between the ‘other’ group winner and the best second-placed team.

Charlotte Edwards, Southern Vipers head coach, said: ‘I’m incredibly excited for our first full domestic season, on the back of a successful RHF trophy campaign last year.

‘Playing across both 50 over and T20 cricket this season, it presents a great opportunity and platform for all players.

‘We’re all very excited to be playing fixtures all over the country and many matches across our region – the hope being we can welcome fans to as many of our games as possible.’