The Women’s Premier League (WPL) is set to find a new window in January-February from 2026, while dedicated windows for the Hundred (August) and WBBL (November) have been allotted in the new women’s Future Tours Programme for the upcoming 2025-29 cycle.
The BCCI’s shifting of their women’s competition has led to Australia’s marquee home summer having to shift from its usual mid-January window to February-March. This is primarily because Cricket Australia (CA) was keen on avoiding a clash with the richest women’s franchise competition where Australian players are highly sought-after. The 2025 women’s Ashes, which is set to kick off on January 12 with the ODI series, will be the last home internationals Australia will host in January at least until 2029.
The first of Australia’s marquee tours at home in their new window will be an incoming tour from India, comprising one Test, three ODIs and three T20Is, after the WPL in January-February 2026.
Meanwhile, the ICC Women’s ODI Championship has now been expanded to 11 teams, with Zimbabwe being the latest entrants. This follows the addition of Bangladesh and Ireland to the ongoing cycle that will culminate with next year’s ODI World Cup, which will be held in India in October. Zimbabwe’s inclusion means all of ICC’s Full Members, except Afghanistan, who don’t field a women’s team, are part of the championship.
Among other decisions, the ICC has introduced a T20 Champions Trophy to be held in Sri Lanka in 2027 as part of their strategic plan to have at least one women’s global tournament each year. The addition of this tournament means there will likely be three global events – LA Olympics (August 2028) and T20 World Cup (September 2028) – over a 14-month window.
More to follow…
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo