The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the change of window for the inaugural Women’s Champions Trophy, scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka next year. The International Board has confirmed that the tournament, featuring eight teams, will take place in the February window and not in the earlier June-July window. This came among a slew of other decisions confirmed by the ICC during its quarterly meeting in Ahmedabad over the recent weekend.
The first-ever Champions Trophy will be played from February 14 to 28 in the T20 format. The reason behind the change in schedule was, however, not confirmed by the Board. The trophy will now partially clash with New Zealand’s tour of Australia, which will be played from February 27 to March 7.ย
Women’s T20 World Cup 2028 qualification pathway confirmed
Meanwhile, the ICC also confirmed the qualification pathway for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2028, which will be hosted by Pakistan, with India playing their games at a neutral venue. “The 12-team tournament will feature automatic qualification for 10 teams, including the top eight teams from the ICC Womenโs T20 World Cup 2026, the host nation if not already qualified, and the next highest-ranked team(s) on the ICC Womenโs T20I rankings as of 6 July 2026,” ICC said in its release. Meanwhile, the remainder of the two places will be determined by a 10-team global qualifier, which will be supported by Regional Qualifiers.ย
“Our discussions in Ahmedabad have reinforced the ICCโs commitment to governance, administration and the growth of cricket globally,” Jay Shah said about the meeting.
“From womenโs cricket and emerging nations to the management of franchise competitions, todayโs discussions and decisions aim to ensure that cricket remains fair, competitive, and exciting for fans worldwide.”
Pink ball trial for Day Tests
The ICC also made a major announcement, approving a trial of the switch from a red ball to the pink ball ahead of the start of the Day Test match in a bid to mitigate the bad light. This came as part of several recommendations made by the ICC during its Board meeting in Ahmedabad on Sunday, the day of the IPL 2026 final.
The pink balls have been exclusively used in Day-Night Test matches, the first of which was played in November 2015. The Pink-ball Tests were introduced to bring in more spectators after work hours, while also adding the spice of test cricket. Meanwhile, the trial to use the pink balls is to allow the teams to play if the light for a red-ball is not optimal, to mitigate the time lost in Test cricket.ย
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