Dubai, Nov 4 (PTI) India will host Australia and England in high-profile home series as the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday gave significance to Test matches and bilateral rubbers while announcing women’s cricket Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the 2025-29 cycle.
Apart from the storied rivals, India will also face Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, who was unveiled as the 11th member of the FTP, at home during the four-year period.
The Women in Blue will also travel to New Zealand, West Indies, Ireland and South Africa in this phase as each member nations are scheduled to play four series at home and abroad.
Apart from this, India will also feature in a tri-series in England ahead of the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, the third team being reigning champions New Zealand.
England will host the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup.
“Members have also penciled in more Test matches this time, with Australia, England, India, South Africa and the West Indies all agreeing to play multi-format series that include ODIs and T20Is,” said Wasim Khan, ICC General Manager of Cricket, in a media release.
“Australia will play the maximum such series – two each against England, India and South Africa and one against the West Indies,” he said.
The members have scheduled, by mutual agreement, tri-series as preparation for ICC events in this cycle.
“Ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, England will host India and New Zealand for such a three-team T20I tournament while Ireland will host Pakistan and the West Indies. Sri Lanka and the West Indies are among other Members scheduled to host tri-series, in 2027 and 2028, respectively,” Khan added.
The FTP also outlined the fixtures for the fourth edition of the ICC Women’s Championship.
The 2025-29 cycle, set to shape the lineup for the 2029 Women’s Cricket World Cup, will expand to feature 11 teams — with one more than the current 10 — with Zimbabwe joining the full member sides.
“Notably, Zimbabwe will make their debut in the tournament, marking a significant step toward broader global representation in women’s cricket,” he said.
“The Women’s Championship, which has been instrumental in ensuring more international cricket since its inception in 2014, sees the number of participating teams go up to 11 with Zimbabwe added to the 10 competing in the ongoing third edition that included Bangladesh and Ireland for the first time.” In its maiden appearance at the tournament, Zimbabwe will host South Africa, West Indies, Ireland and Sri Lanka and will tour India, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The second women’s FTP, that runs from May 2025 to April 2029, promises more international women’s cricket action across all formats, with more than 400 matches ensuring competitive action.
In all, 132 ODIs will be played in 44 series of three matches each, lending context by way of a qualification pathway to the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2029 and giving members the chance to club matches of other formats with those tours.
“All formats show a substantial increase from the previous cycle (2022-2025) and this FTP sees an ICC event each year with the inaugural six-team Champions Trophy scheduled for 2027.
“The other ICC events during the period are the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2025 (India), the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2026 (the United Kingdom) and the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2028 (host yet to be announced).
“The Women’s Championship will see all teams competing against eight other teams like in the ongoing edition, four series at home and four away,” the release added. PTI PDS UNG PDS 7/21/2024
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