On Wednesday, the International Cricket Council (ICC)announced the expansion of teams in the upcoming ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 and the qualification pathway for the 2025 Women’s World Cup.
Bangladesh and Ireland have been added as the ninth and tenth teams. They join Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and West Indies in pursuit of automatic qualification for the 2025 ICC Women’s World Cup. Teams finishing in the top five and the host nation will ensure direct qualification to the ODI World Cup, which will next be played in 2025. The remaining teams will then have to go through the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
The inclusion of the two new teams, the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 will now feature 10 teams. In this, the third Women’s Championship cycle, each team will play eight three-match ODI series – four home and four away – over the next three years.
ICC gives five associates nations ODI status
As a part of revamping the ICC Cricket World Cup pathway, five Associate women’s teams – Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand, and the USA – have been given ODI status with immediate effect. Their performances in the one-day games will affect their ODI rankings and count towards qualification for the 2025 World Cup.
“Increasing the number of teams in the ICC Women’s Championship and awarding ODI status to five additional teams will help us to accelerate the growth of the women’s game,”
ICC CEO GEOFF ALLARDICE SAID.
“More teams playing more regularly creates a more competitive environment as we saw at the recent ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.”
ICC CEO GEOFF ALLARDICE ADDED.
Australia is the two-time defending champions, having won the 2014–2016 ICC Women’s Championship and the 2017–2020 ICC Women’s Championship. Australia, having won the last two cycles of the Women’s Championship, will defend its title in the upcoming world cup. The 2022-25 ICC Women’s Championship will begin with the upcoming ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, scheduled from June 1 to June 5 in Karachi.
