Just like the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, female cricketers also have their ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup every four years. To qualify for this pinnacle event, teams have to play in the ICC Women’s Championship.
Now what is this championship? How many teams play in it? What is the format?
Well, the questions are plenty and I will answer all of them in this article.
So, let’s get to know about the ICC Women’s Championship in detail.
The Inception of the ICC Women’s Championship (IWC)
The International Cricket Council (ICC) kicked off the inaugural IWC in April 2014 with eight participating teams.
As I mentioned earlier, the championship’s purpose is to determine the qualification for the Women’s World Cup, which takes place after the championship cycle ends.
The first cycle of the IWC began in April 2014 and concluded in November 2016. Eight teams – Australia, England, New Zealand, India, South Africa, the West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – participated in the championship, with Australia emerging as the winner.
Similarly, the second cycle of the championship ran from October 2017 to April 2020, with Australia winning the competition consecutively. The hosts of the 2022 edition, New Zealand, qualified for the event along with the top four teams in the IWC.
Also Read | The History of Women’s Cricket
The Expansion of IWC and Qualification Process
With the third cycle, which started in June 2022, the ICC included two more teams – Bangladesh and Ireland – in the championship, making it a ten-team competition.
After the end of the cycle, the top five teams on the table and the 2025 edition hosts, India, directly qualified for the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. The bottom four teams, on the other hand, further played in the Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier. Then the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier determined the remaining two teams that qualified for the main event.
Ahead of the fourth cycle, which began in February 2026, Zimbabwe also joined the championship, making it an 11-team competition.
Also Read | The History of the Women’s Ashes
Format of ICC Women’s Championship
With the expansion of the competition, each team plays eight ODI series consisting of three matches each, with four home and four away series over the three-year cycle.
Teams earn two points for winning a match, while in cases of a tie or no result, both teams get one point each. And teams, obviously, get no points if they lose a match.
The team with the most points at the end of the cycle is declared the winner of the ICC Women’s Championship. The winners and the other four top teams on the points table, along with hosts, directly qualify for the next Women’s Cricket World Cup.
Read Next | 10 Amazing Facts About Women’s Cricket You Should Know
Pingback: The 10 Best Indian Women Cricketers of All Time - Cricket Resolved