Blossoming Women’s Cricket Might Have The Template For A Congested Calendar

There has been silence over several pressing issues discussed at the recent International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings in Dubai.

But some major women’s cricket news was publicly announced with a new women’s Future Tours Programme for the 2025-29 cycle marked by allotted dedicated windows for lucrative T20 franchise competitions.

India’s Women’s Premier League, England’s the Hundred and Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League have been allocated space in an increasingly cramped cricket calendar.

India had been slow to develop women’s cricket compared to fellow powers Australia and England, but the lucrative WPL – where top players earn $400,000 for three weeks – has proved a game-changer.

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The WPL will be played in January-February from 2026 and its change in schedule – having for its first couple of editions been played in March – means Cricket Australia has had to schedule its women’s internationals in the next FTP away from the peak summer school holidays to the backend of the season.

But the WBBL, a trendsetter for women’s cricket leagues, will have a dedicated November window, while The Hundred has August carved out.

Having dedicated windows for those big leagues is wise. It allows top players to pursue big remuneration on offer while not having to decide between country or franchise league.

It’s a headache that is paralyzing men’s cricket. Only the money-spinner Indian Premier League played usually from late March-May forces a shut down of the major cricket countries.

The sport’s power brokers have dedicated resources and think tanks to tackle this problem. There has been a working group – one of many devised from the sport’s top administrators – dedicated to the FTP.

But nothing has been done on a mishmash of a calendar where cricket’s trio of formats seemingly fuse together along with never-ending white-ball franchise leagues that keep mushrooming all over the world.

It’s all confusing for fans and everyone involved with no semblance of structure in the calendar. With a belief that the IPL will eventually expand, with investment from Saudi Arabia pumping even more money into cricket’s richest league, there has been some push for a delineation in the calendar between franchise and international cricket.

Something like what soccer has successfully implemented and which is starting to infiltrate into cricket though the women’s new FTP.

Of course, implementing these windows is not as easy for men’s cricket which has a far busier international schedule than its women’s counterparts. There are also far more franchise leagues, so it will surely cause a lot of friction determining which franchise leagues get coveted status.

It feels like an almost impossible task and cricket’s power brokers appear to have thrown their arms in the air and given up.

While the women’s game appears to be less complicated and in some aspects more authentic, in a disappointing note foes India and Pakistan won’t play bilaterals against one another just like in men’s cricket. They will only face off in world tournaments in the next FTP.

There had been hope that women’s cricket, without the ugly veer that often blights matches between the nuclear-armed countries in men’s matches, could mend relations between India and Pakistan.

But that doesn’t look like happening any time soon.