The ICC has confirmed a brand-new eight-team tournament – the Women’s Emerging Nations Trophy – to run in Bangkok from 20-30 November. Hosts Thailand are joined by Papua New Guinea, Netherlands, UAE, Scotland, Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda. Eight sides, four continents, ten days of cricket; the numbers tell a simple, encouraging story.
According to the governing body, the idea grew out of the recent ODI World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, where, in its words, “more than 500 million viewers in India” tuned in, alongside “significant growth in viewership across countries”. The same release noted: “Nearly 300,000 fans attended matches across India and Sri Lanka and the event concluded with India becoming the first Asian team to lift the Women’s Cricket World Cup, a watershed moment in the evolution of the sport and the socio-cultural context of gender roles … The Women’s Emerging Nations Trophy is part of a new three-tier development pathway designed to offer high-performance exposure to emerging nations.”
Sanjog Gupta, the ICC chief executive, reinforced that point. “It is the ICC and the Chair’s [Jay Shah] vision to sustainably expand cricket’s footprint across the world and grow the women’s game. Providing elite athletes from emerging nations more opportunities to play at the highest level is aimed at fast-tracking their development and improving the competitiveness of their teams,” he said. “It also drives the visibility of the sport in participant nations, serving as a driver of girls’ involvement in the sport and inspires women from other nations to stay committed to the development pathways.”
The fixture list begins with Thailand v Netherlands and Papua New Guinea v UAE on day one, setting an immediate cross-continental tone. Round-robin matches will settle semi-finalists; every game is classed as a full T20 international, allowing players to stack up ranking points as well as experience. No guarantees are attached, but a chance to bridge the gap to the established nations is, at least, on the table.
