The ICC has rescheduled the Women’s Champions Trophy 2027 from the June-July window to February. The Sports governing body has approved the change at its quarterly meeting in Ahmedabad, with no reason given for the change.
The eight-team tournament, first announced in 2022, will be played in the T20 format from February 14 to 28, the ICC announced in a press release.
Hence, New Zealand’s tour of Australia for six white-ball games, which starts on February 27, will be forced to make changes.
The International Cricket Council will also introduce the new tournament of ICC Women’s Emerging Nations Trophy as a 10-team event this year, which will feature five Full members and five associate members, selected based on rankings.
The board also brought a qualification pathway for the 2028 Women’s T20 World Cup to be hosted by Pakistan. Ten teams out of 12 will qualify automatically, including the top eight teams from the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, the hosts, and the next highest-ranked teams in the women’s T20I rankings. The remaining two spots will be determined through regional qualifiers, followed by a global qualifier.
The ICC chairman Jay Shah said, “Our discussions in Ahmedabad have reinforced the ICC’s commitment to governance, administration and the growth of cricket globally.
“From women’s cricket and emerging nations to the management of franchise competitions, today’s discussions and decisions aim to ensure that cricket remains fair, competitive, and exciting for fans worldwide,” concluded Shah.
The board also suspended Cricket Canada from ICC membership due to a statement of “serious breaches of its membership obligations.”
The ICC had suspended funding to Cricket Canada over governance issues. However, the council did not reveal the details of the breaches. However, the ICC confirmed that player and player programmes will not have any impact.
“In taking this decision, the ICC Board was mindful of the importance of protecting the interests of Canadian players and ensuring they are not disadvantaged by the governance issues affecting the national governing body. Accordingly, Canadian national representative teams will continue to be eligible to participate in ICC events during the period of suspension.”
“To support the continued participation and development of the national teams, Cricket Canada will be permitted to access ICC funding through a controlled funding mechanism, under the oversight of ICC management, solely for approved national team programmes.”
The council has also approved a trial of switching from a red ball to a pink ball before the start of the test.
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