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Five highlights from ICC’s historic FTP for women’s cricket

ICC women's FTP
by Wisden Staff 2 minute read

In a historic first, the ICC released a Future Tours Program (FTP) designed specifically for women’s international cricket that constitutes global tournaments and bilateral series for teams around the world.

In all, the program outlines 301 matches, including 135 ODIs, 159 T20Is and seven Women’s Tests.

Here are the major highlights from the announcement:

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# More structure

Women’s cricket – or lack thereof – has been a talking point of late. The volume and irregular frequency of international matches have both been persistent issues. With a proper FTP in place, there is set to be more clarity over fixtures in the future.

The programme has been structured around the ten-nation Women’s Championship from 2022 to 2025. Each team will now play three bilateral ODI series as part of the Championships, leading up to the 2025 Women’s World Cup. The teams will also play three- and five-match T20I series.

# (Marginally) more Tests

Due to broadcasting challenges and apprehensive cricket boards, Women’s Test cricket has remained limited to far and few one-off encounters, especially for teams barring England, Australia and to a certain extent, India. For context, Pakistan, New Zealand or West Indies Women have not played a Test since 2004.

The FTP does not include Tests for the last three teams as yet, but have confirmed a total of seven Test matches for the upcoming window, with Australia, India, South Africa and England all featuring in them.

# Standalone Women’s Ashes

In the past, the Women’s Ashes has been scheduled and played in relation to the Men’s equivalent. In July 2025, a standalone women’s-only Ashes will feature England and Australia, with the corresponding men’s series being played later that year.

Another multi-format Ashes will be held in June 2023.

#Windows left for T20 competitions

Specific windows have been left in the calendar to possibly accommodate T20 tournaments such as the Hundred, the Women’s Big Bash League and the much-discussed-but-yet-to-be-officially-launched Women’s IPL. These tournaments may feature more prominent cricketers with a proper international structure for players and boards to plan their calendar around.

# ICC’s women’s events confirmed

Last month, while approving the host nations for women’s white-ball competitions from 2024 to 2027, the ICC also assured that a women’s FTP would be put in place. With the announcement now, there is more clarity over series leading up to these global events. The global tournaments are as follows:

February 2023 – Women’s T20 World Cup (South Africa)

September-October 2024 – Women’s T20 World Cup ((Bangladesh)

September-October 2025 – Women’s Cricket World Cup (India)

June 2026 – Women’s T20 World Cup (England)

February 2027 – Women’s T20 Champions Trophy (Sri Lanka)

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