The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, held every 4 years, is a dreamlike tournament for the female cricketers just like the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup for the males. To play in this top-most event, the teams have to go through the ICC Women’s Championship.
What exactly is this championship? How many teams are allowed to proceed? What would the format be, then?
Indeed, a lot of questions are raised, and through this article, I will be giving the answers one by one. Thus, let’s understand the ICC Women’s Championship thoroughly.
ICC Women’s Championship
In April 2014, the International Cricket Council (ICC) launched the 1st IWC with 8 teams taking part. The IWC, as mentioned before, is meant for the selection of the teams that will participate in the Women’s World Cup which happens after the IWC cycle exhausts.
The first cycle of the IWC kicked off in April 2014 and ended in November 2016. The championship was attended by 8 teams Australia, England, New Zealand, India, South Africa, the West Indies, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka with Australia triumphing.
In the same way, the second cycle of the tournament continued from October 2017 to April 2020, with Australia winning the tournament again. The 2022 host, New Zealand, along with the top 4 teams in IWC, qualified for the event.
The IWC Expansion And Qualification Procedure
Starting from June 2022, the ICC has included 2 additional teams – Bangladesh and Ireland – in the IWC as the third cycle began. Hence, it became a 10-team tournament.
After the cycle concludes, the top 5 teams in the standings along with 2025 edition hosts, India, will secure their places in the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. On the contrary, the bottom 4 teams will participate in the Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier will then finalize the two teams that will join the event.
ICC Women’s Championship Format
The competition has been expanded and the structure of the competition changed, with each team playing 8 ODI series consisting of three match each, with 4 home and 4 away series, over the next three years.
Every winning team will get 2 points, while in case of a tie or no result, each team will receive 1 point and the losing team will get nothing.
At the end of the cycle, the team with the most points will be proclaimed the winner of the ICC Women’s Championship.
