The first-ever Women's Future Tours Programme (FTP), which encompasses all three game formats, was unveiled by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday. It confirms the bilateral international tours for 10 teams over the following three years.
"A result of a joint effort from Members, the FTP ensures more matches for teams with the enhancement of the ICC Women's Championship (IWC) to a 10-team event. With teams featuring in more matches across formats in bilateral series, over 300 matches will be played as part of the 2022-25 FTP," stated an official release.
In the years 2022 through 2025, a total of seven Tests are anticipated. In December 2023, India will play home to one Test match for each of England and Australia.
From August 2022 to January 2025, the Indian women's team will compete in 2 Tests, 24 ODI, and 36 T20 matches.
Two multi-format Ashes series, one in England in June 2023 and the other in Australia in January 2025, are scheduled for the time period and will each include one Test, three ODIs, and three T20Is. The ICC Women's Championship, which offers direct qualifying to the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in India in 2025, will host the three one-day internationals in the first series.
In addition to the IWC home series against them, Australia, the current world champions of the 50-over and 20-over formats as well as the winners of the previous two IWC competitions, has other obligations that include an away series of a Test, three ODIs, and three T20Is in India in December 2023. In March 2025, they play New Zealand in a three-match home series that is not a stop on an IWC tour.
The other teams that have scheduled Test matches during this time are South Africa, England, and India. Some teams have also scheduled five-match T20I series.
During this time, England will play New Zealand in a home-and-away series of three ODIs and five T20Is, while India will play Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the West Indies in IWC series that will also include three T20Is apiece.
In addition to three T20Is in Australia, five in Pakistan, three in Sri Lanka, and three each at home against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the West Indies play five T20Is at home against Ireland.
Bangladesh will play three more Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) on January 25 against South Africa and the West Indies, respectively, while Ireland will play five T20Is against the West Indies in June 2023, three T20Is at home against England on September 24 and three T20Is on the road against Bangladesh in December 2024.
Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the West Indies are the opponents for three T20Is each for Sri Lanka.
Wasim Khan, General Manager of Cricket for the International Cricket Council (ICC), hailed the approval of the inaugural women's FTP as a turning point for women's cricket.
"This is a huge moment for the women's game. This FTP not only lends certainty to future cricket tours but also sets the base for a structure that is sure to grow in the coming years," ICC GM of Cricket Wasim Khan said.
The ICC Women's Championship, which underpins the FTP, is instrumental in propelling the game to the next level and the competitive matches that we saw in this year's World Cup in New Zealand were a result of the greater number of matches that women have got to play because of the IWC," Khan said.
"I thank the Member Boards in helping draft this historic FTP, which I am sure will go a long way in taking the women's game to the next level," he added.
