At present, women’s ODI associate countries are scrapping for a new second-level Women’s ODI competition including Thailand, Scotland, and the Netherlands. This proposed league would be formatted on similar lines to the existing men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 and would provide new teams with an important opportunity to play frequently and improve their rankings globally.
The ICC Women’s Championship will be expanded from 10 to 11 when Zimbabwe joins. But the expansion does not include five important Women’s ODI Associate teams—Thailand, Scotland, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea and the United States—thus it does not really offer them an unequivocal path to reach the very top.
At the moment, such Associate teams must organize their own games and provide support, resulting in a huge financial toll on them. In the case of men’s teams, just as presented by the CWC League 2, there is no system. Therefore, this unstructured nature of competition affords no room for growth and development of women’s cricket, in this case, that do not have a full-time deal.
This is not only expressed by important people such as Roland Lefebvre, the Netherlands High-Performance Manager, and Steve Snell, the Scotland Head of Performance, but they insist that the current system does not in any way correspond with the ICC’s goal in the development of women’s cricket worldwide. They believe a well-organized competition would give players stability, clear objectives, and a better opportunity based on skills.
“The ICC’s stated strategic objectives were to place a particular emphasis on growing the women’s game, but in terms of structure and support there’s still nothing comparable to [Men’s Cricket World Cup] League 2 or even the Challenge Leagues in women’s cricket.”
“Of course we understand there are financial and practical reasons behind the decision [to promote Zimbabwe], though it is regrettable that the top level of women’s ODI’s is a closed shop for us too. For our men’s team the Super League was fantastic, and while it’s a shame that’s gone for now we do applaud what the ICC have done in terms of providing competitive context for Associates with League 2.
If you look at the progress that we’ve made, that all the Associates are making, in terms of competing with the best on the field, so much of that is down to having that regular competition and clear competitive structure. Surely it’s time we do the same for the women’s game?”
Steve Snell added,
“If you consider the ICC’s objectives for growing women’s cricket, they currently aren’t really mirrored in the structure of women’s game in the way that they are in the men’s. Right now, there’s no clarity in the pathway or the schedule.
We’re left trying to populate a fixture list together with the other boards, who all have their own considerations too. You may be able to organise a series in the Netherlands one year, or the UAE or Thailand, but having to organise fixtures among ourselves without any stipulation or obligation as to who plays who – it’s not a true meritocracy.”
Currently, Thailand ranks 9th in ODIs and 13th in T20Is; it hasn’t played an ODI in more than a year, which seems to reflect problems in the structure at present. The 2025 Women’s World Cup Qualifier is almost up. In this light, these countries demand a change in ICC’s policy. They are demanding the ICC look into possibly implementing a second-tier Women’s ODI league to enhance competition and growth.
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