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The Hundred, Women’s Premier League and Women’s Big Bash have been allocated their own specific windows in the International Cricket Council’s future touring schedule.
A special report from Telegraph sport has exposed the fragmented state of the men’s game, epitomized by franchise leagues, but the latest program for future tours in the women’s game demonstrates a plan to avoid the same pitfalls.
Between May 2025 and April 2029, the number of teams on the tour program was increased from 10 to 11 to allow Zimbabwe to join, but three windows each year were set aside for franchise tournaments.
The Women’s Premier League (WPL) only played its first season in March 2023, but under the new ICC calendar it has a protected window of January to February from 2026. The Hundred ensures that No women’s international matches will take place in August, and the Women’s Big Bash has a similar window in November.
As a result, Australia’s home summer was moved from its traditional position in mid-January to the end of the season, from February to March, to avoid a clash with the most lucrative women’s franchise tournament in the world, the WPL.
The 2025 Ashes, scheduled to begin on January 12, will be the last home international matches hosted that month by the women’s team Down Under until at least 2029.
England Women will play more Test matches after experiencing two home summers without a red-ball match, starting with India’s visit in the summer of 2026, which will be followed by five more Tests between 2027 and 2029, including including away matches in the West Indies. , India and Australia.
West Indies have not played a Test since 2003-04 against Pakistan and have played only 12 in their history, but will be among the nations to play the red ball format in the next cycle.
From 2025 to 2029, there will be an ICC event each year, with the first Women’s T20 Champions Trophy scheduled for 2027, the Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2025, the T20 World Cup in England in 2026 and another World Cup. world T20 in England. 2028.
India and Pakistan will not play each other outside of major tournaments, but each team will play four home and four away teams over a three-year cycle, and with the addition of Zimbabwe, Afghanistan is the only full member country of the ICC not to have an international women’s team.
ICC Director General of Cricket Wasim Khan said: “We are happy that the new edition of the IWC has expanded and will include Zimbabwe as the eleventh team.
“It is encouraging to see that the member boards are keen to play in all formats and have also planned three series to prepare for the ICC events. »
For years, men’s cricket has spiraled out of control. There are franchise leagues in almost every country playing cricket, as well as some countries not traditionally associated with the game.
Everyone wants a share of the foreign investment and sponsorship that often comes with a tournament, but apart from the Indian Premier League which has cultivated its own window, there is no formal structure.
There are so many leagues vying for the best players that it is possible for a male cricketer to play a few matches in one competition and then travel to another continent for another. Instead of signing players for entire tournaments, huge fees may be charged for just a handful of matches, or in some cases, for a single match.
The rise of women’s franchise cricket has been significantly more delayed. The Women’s Big Bash might have held its inaugural competition in 2015-16, but it wasn’t until 2021 that The Hundred began, and the Women’s Premier League subsequently followed in 2023.
The global appetite for women’s cricket is much less than that of men’s, but top players have become key players in the growth of the global game. Indian players are allowed to participate in competitions like the Hundred and Big Bash, which their male counterparts are not allowed to participate in, which adds to their profile and earning potential.
In the first edition of the WPL, the top two players were signed for a fee of around £320,000, far more than the (so far) governing bodies WBBL and Hundred could offer.
The conversations that have dominated the men’s game about matches and the risk of burnout, injuries and player well-being have started to make their way to the women’s game. Players are taking part in more fixtures than ever before as world football grows and if it is allowed to continue to grow in an unregulated manner there are fears it could become an echo of the situation among men.
By opening clear windows for all three (and so far only) major franchise tournaments, the International Cricket Council has taken a crucial stand against the ever-growing beast of franchise cricket.
However, for countries that have not yet established a women’s competition, there is no Pakistan Women’s Super League, nor a South Africa 20 for example, there is less and less room for do so while attracting top female players, which could harm the growth of the women’s competition. game in countries that have not yet adopted it.
