ICC announces FTP for women's international cricket from 2022-2025
Shaped by the ICC Women's ODI Championship, the FTP includes a number of three and five-match T20I series and seven Test matches.
After much wait, the International Cricket Council (ICC) finally unveiled the Future Tours Programme (FTP) for women's international, spanning a period of next three years from May 2022 to April 2025.
The FTP contains international obligations of ICC's top 10 full-member countries and is shaped around the women's ODI championship, which acts as a qualification tournament for the next 50-over World Cup scheduled in early 2025 in India.
All 10 teams will be playing three-match series against eight of their WOC rivals, with each series carrying points that will be counted towards direct World Cup qualification berth. Top five teams at the end of the league will book a ticket to India, while the bottom three will contest with the top associate sides for the remaining three slots at the eight-team marquee event.
Most of these series are accompanied by corresponding T20I series, ranging from size of three to five matches, which bulks up the calendar and makes it one of the busiest women's FTP announced by the ICC. In total, there will be 300 international matches played in women's cricket over this period, featuring 135 ODIs and 159 T20Is.
Tests again endure step-motherly treatment in women's FTP
There will be only seven Tests played in the women's international calendar over the next three years, with England involved in four of them, including home and away Ashes clash with Australia in June 2023 and January 2025.
They will travel to India and South Africa for their remaining Test matches in the calendar in successive Decembers in 2023 and 2024. Australia take on India (away) and South Africa (away) in a standalone fixtures in January 2024 and February 2024, respectively.
With only seven matches scheduled in this period, women's Test cricket is set to continue experiencing a step-motherly treatment from the game's custodians, as full-members crowd their calendar with multiple limited-overs series at home and overseas.
India will have a bumper home season in 2023-24 where they host South Africa and New Zealand for limited-overs matches at the beginning and conclude their winter with historic Tests against England and Australia, apart from taking them on in ODIs and T20Is.
Outside the Big 3, Bangladesh are set for home series against India, Pakistan (2023) and Australia (2024) and travel to South Africa (2023) during their first-ever campaign in the ODI championship.
Fellow new entrants Ireland will also have their busiest itenerary. They are set for an away tour to India (2025) and host Australia (2023) and England (2024) in their journey.
Their ODI series will be accompanied by a number of T20I matches against respective opponents, giving Bangladesh and Ireland a chance to improve and flex their muscles against the world's best teams.
New Zealand, who have no Tests scheduled for the coming FTP as well, will travel to India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies and host England, Australia, Bangladesh and Pakistan for the ODI championship.
Their trips to West Indies (2022) and England (2024) will be accompanied by five-match T20I series. The rest of their touring assignments feature only three-match T20I series. They will also host England for 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is in March 2024.
West Indies will play most of the five-match T20I series arranged in this timeframe, hosting New Zealand, England, Ireland while taking on Pakistan in an away one. These T20Is are lined-up alongside their ODI championship matches, featuring away series versus Australia and India.
Sri Lanka will play the least number of matches in the calendar, with none of their ODI championship series preceding or superseding a five-match T20I series. The Lankans will travel to England, South Africa and Pakistan and host India and New Zealand during their campaign.
Detailed women's FTP can be seen here