The International Cricket Council is all set to expand the Women’s ODI World Cup to 10 teams from the next edition, which will be played in 2029, the board announced during its meeting on Friday.
India
won its first-ever global trophy in women’s cricket, defeating South Africa by 52 runs in the final played in Navi Mumbai on Sunday, November 2. The ICC reaffirmed its commitment to advancing women’s cricket, citing the success of the Women’s World Cup in India as proof of its enduring belief in the women’s game.
Almost three lakh fans attended games in stadiums, a record for any women’s cricket tournament. The event saw a surge in global viewership as well, with close to 500 million viewers in India alone.
Buoyed by this success, ICC has decided to expand the next edition of the Women’s ODI World Cup to 10 teams, up from eight this year.
At the LA28 Olympics, both the men’s and women’s T20 cricket events will feature six teams each, with a total of 28 games to be played.
Qualification
With two more teams to feature in 2029, it needs to be seen how the ICC chalks out a qualification scenario. For the 2025 edition, India qualified as the host nation.
Australia, England, New Zealand, runners-up South Africa and Sri Lanka were the top five teams (excluding India) in the Women’s ODI Championship, which began in 2022 and ended this year and hence qualified.
Bangladesh and Pakistan qualified after finishing as the top two teams in the World Cup qualifier. The Windies, semi-finalists in the previous 2022 edition, couldn’t qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 2000 and for the first time in the tournament’s history under ICC management.
Mithali Raj in the ICC Women’s Cricket Committee
ICC also ratified multiple new appointments to the ICC Women’s Cricket Committee, including Ashley De Silva, former Indian cricketer Mithali Raj, India head coach Amol Muzumdar, Ben Sawyer, Charlotte Edwards and Sala Stella Siale-Vaea.
