The Women’s Premier League (WPL) will be played in January-February from 2026, while the Hundred (August) and WBBL (November) have been allocated dedicated windows in the new Women’s Future Tours Program for the 2025-29 cycle.
BCCI’s move to move the WPL has resulted in Cricket Australia postponing its women’s premier summer competitions from mid-January to February–March to avoid clashes with the most lucrative women’s franchise leagues.
The 2024–25 Women’s Ashes, which begins on January 12, will be the last international matches hosted by Australia in January until 2029. Australia’s first home series in its new window is a tour of India for a Test, three ODIs. And three T20Is after the WPL in January-February 2026.
The new FTP sees the ICC Women’s ODI Championship expanded to 11 teams with the addition of Zimbabwe. This follows the addition of Bangladesh and Ireland in the current cycle which will conclude with the ODI World Cup in India in October next year. Zimbabwe’s inclusion means that all ICC Full Members except Afghanistan, who do not field a women’s team, are part of the championship.
With the expansion of the Women’s Championship, each country will play four teams at home and away against four teams in a three-year cycle. In their first appearance in the upcoming cycle, Zimbabwe will host South Africa, West Indies, Ireland and Sri Lanka and tour India, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
As expected, India and Pakistan will play each other only in world tournaments in the new FTP and not in bilateral series.
Another addition that is largely member-driven is that teams have scheduled triangular series as part of their preparation for ICC events during this cycle.
“Ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, England will host India and New Zealand for a three-team T20I tournament, while Ireland will host Pakistan and West Indies,” ICC General Manager Wasim Khan said. “Sri Lanka and West Indies are among the other members to host the tri-series in 2027 and 2028 respectively.”
A T20 Champions Trophy for women
The ICC has penciled in the T20 Champions Trophy to be held in Sri Lanka in 2027 as part of its strategic plan to organize at least one women’s global tournament every year. This new tournament will include six teams and will have 16 matches. The addition of this tournament to the women’s calendar means there will be three global events in a 12-month period – including the LA Olympics (August 2028) and the T20 World Cup (September 2028).
This brings the count of all ICC senior women’s events in the new FTP cycle to five: two T20 World Cups (2026 and 2028), two ODI World Cups (2025 and 2029), and a T20 Champions Trophy in 2027.
The ODI World Cup will have 10 teams playing 48 matches from 2029 (eight teams and 31 matches till 2025), the T20 World Cup will have 12 teams playing 33 matches from 2026 (10 teams and 23 matches till 2024).
West Indies will play test after 20 years
A total of 15 women’s Tests have been included in this cycle, with the West Indies set to return to the format after more than 20 years. They will host Australia for a Test as part of a multi-format series in March 2026, play England for a second Test at home in April 2027 and play a Test in South Africa in December 2028.
West Indies last played a Test against Pakistan in 2003–04 and have played only 12 women’s Tests overall. Meanwhile, India will play away Tests away to Australia and South Africa in 2026, while also hosting Australia and England later in the cycle.
After touring Australia for their second Women’s Test in almost a decade, South Africa will host Australia for the first time in a Test in March–April 2027. The new FTP will conclude with the ODI World Cup in 2029, the venue of which is yet to be announced.
Shashank Kishore is senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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