ICC Announces Expansion Of Women’s Cricket Events From Next Cycle
The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the expansion of women’s cricket events post the 2023 cycle on the celebrated occasion of International Women’s Day this Monday (March 8). The ICC has confirmed there will be more teams participating in both the 50-over and T20 World Cups from 2026 onwards.
As per a newly announced global structure for women’s cricket events in the next cycle, there will be two 50-over World Cups and three 20-over World Cups held, while an additional T20 Champions Cup is also set to be organised twice.
ICC committed to growing the women’s game in sustainable fashion
The ICC stated its new structure is announced with a “long-term commitment to growing the game globally and in a sustainable fashion.”
“The revised formats will give more teams the chance to compete on the global stage and importantly provides Members with a window to grow the game domestically and to challenge internationally as the changes take place,” the governing body added in a media release.
The ICC 50-over World Cup in 2025 will have 8 teams and feature 31 matches, before the quadrennial event expands to involve 10 teams contesting 48 games in 2029. The 2024 T20 World Cup also will retain the 10-team format but will then expand to 12 teams in the following editions in 2026, 2028 and 2030. The T20 Champions Cup will involve only 6 teams and be played with a total of 16 matches in 2027 and 2031.
We have been Building Momentum Around The Women’s Game: ICC CEO
ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney was extremely pleased to announce an expanded events chart for the women’s game.
“We have a clear focus and commitment to an ambitious long-term growth plan for the women’s game. We have been building momentum around the women’s game for the last four years investing in global broadcast coverage and marketing to drive fan engagement,” said Sawhney, the ICC CEO.
“The results speak for themselves with the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 attracting record numbers, 1.1 billion video views, making it the most-watched women’s cricket event of all time and having 86,174 fans attending the final at the MCG, a record attendance for a women’s cricket event.”
“This decision to expand our women’s events builds on these foundations and allows us to give more member countries greater opportunities to compete on a global stage. This means that more teams will also get the opportunity to compete in the qualification pathways for the respective ICC events over the coming years.”
“I am sure these initiatives will go a long way in helping us achieve our strategic goal of continuing to build strength and depth in the women’s game,” he added.