The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to award One Day International status to five Associate women’s teams with immediate effect.
The teams include the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand, and the USA who have all had their status upgraded as part of the revamping of the ICC Cricket World Cup pathway.
It means that all five teams will see their performances in one-day games count towards qualification for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025.
“Awarding ODI status to five additional teams will help us to accelerate the growth of the women’s game,” said ICC CEO Geoff Allardice.
“More teams playing more regularly creates a more competitive environment as we saw at the recent ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.
“Good luck to Netherlands, PNG, Scotland, Thailand, and the USA on what I hope will be a great opportunity to develop in 50-over cricket in their countries.”
Thailand, one of the countries to have been given an ODI status, has emerged as a significant force over recent years.
They managed to qualify for the 2020 T20 World Cup and performing strongly in the Covid-impacted qualification process for the last 50-over World Cup.
ICC has also announced a new edition of the ICC Women’s Championship, which already features two new teams this year in Bangladesh and Ireland, taking the total nations competing up to ten.
Each team will play eight three-match series in the Championship over the next three years.
The top five teams and the hosts will qualify for the next ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup while the remaining teams will go into a qualifying competition.
“The third edition of the Championship is going to be really exciting,” Australia captain Meg Lanning, who led her side to this year’s triumph, said.
“To have Bangladesh and Ireland involved, will not only be great for us to have the chance to play more cricket against them but also to expose them to more cricket against the top nations.
“We want to see the women’s game as strong as possible and developing the next tier of nations is a big part of that.”
England’s captain Heather Knight echoed the same sentiments of her Australian counterpart.
