WBBL just the start for women's cricket

Already you can feel cricket is less "pale, male and stale".

These were the words Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland used to describe the state of cricket at an International Women's Day breakfast in Melbourne earlier this year.

"Despite the long history, it is fair to say cricket has been conservative and generally reluctant to promote female involvement in the game. In some parts, cricket has deserved the suggestion that it was predominantly "pale, male and stale". 

"While slow to get going, we are now determined to make up for lost time," he said.

The inaugural Women's Big Bash League demonstrates Cricket Australia is serious about making up for lost time. 

WATCH: Jess Jonassen's match-winning WBBL knock 

The template was set with the BBL five years ago - which has grown into something crazy and beautiful – now the best women cricketers in the world have a stage to strut their stuff. 

It's an exciting new era not only for the talented women who play the sport, but also for the army of girls who slop on the sunscreen and put on the pads during the school holidays to carve their names into suburban folklore. 

That's where it all begins – the backyard, the park, the local nets, and now it won't have to end there for girls. 

They now have a visible pathway. Importantly, the WBBL enables them to see a reflection of themselves. 

Melbourne Stars captain Meg Lanning has started WBBL|01 like a woman making up for lost time. 

Watch: Lanning powers Stars to victory at Junction Oval

Already she has three 50s and her side is unbeaten. 

Lanning's early dominance is just one sub-plot in an intriguing series so far. 

The Brisbane Heat have won five straight, the Sydney Sixers are in the grip of batting woes - and we may have already seen the catch of the season. Corinne Hall's spectacular dive at full stretch awakened something in me. My glory days are well and truly behind me (I make strange noises when bending down to pick up my son's crayons) but every time I see a catch like that it takes me back to that day when I was fielding in the covers and...

In the first-ever televised WBBL match Southern Stars allrounder Jess Jonassen stole the show - just as she did in the one-off Ashes Test earlier this year - with 63no and bowling figures of 3-11. Bravo.

Quick Single: Jonassen's perfect game stuns Strikers

Whether cricket becomes the number one team sport for girls and women from the grassroots to the elite levels of competition as Cricket Australia hopes remains to be seen but things are heading in the right direction. 

Watch: Hall's catch of the summer

People are talking about the WBBL – I can now start and finish a conversation about women's cricket at a party without the person I'm talking to looking confused.

There will always be those people who rubbish women's sport – and no amount of flashy batting or quality bowling at the death will change the way they think. 

Their default position is to compare women's cricket with men's cricket. 

In their heads men are the measuring stick of greatness. Women's cricket is physically different to men's but it is no less strategic or passionate – in fact, you could argue relying less on brute force makes it more tactical and elegant? 

We should recognise and celebrate these differences not denigrate them. Both have a whole lot to offer and should be valued and respected equally. 

The scoffers will eventually go the same way as the broad-faced potoroo, which wasn't able to evolve either.

Over the course of the next few weeks more and more people will see our elite women cricketers in action with seven more games televised as double headers.

Watch: Jonassen snares three at the Gabba

The players will ignite something inside all of us who enjoy sport – for some it may be no more than curiosity, others a new passion. 

Whether it's curiosity, fascination, delight, respect or admiration it doesn't really matter. 

What matters is something has been stirred within - something that may lead to a genuine interest in women's cricket. 

This is an important moment in women's sport.

I believe culture can change. 

I believe men and women can change their attitudes to make the Australian sporting landscape more equal. 

I believe society can change.

And hit pale, male and stale for six.