Photo Credit: Cricket Ireland / Keniry Photography
The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday announced the first Women’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) that contains key international fixture obligations for the Momentum Proteas between 2022 – 2025.
The programme also features the 2022 – 2025 ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) campaign along with all the upcoming major ICC Women’s events, beginning with the 2023 Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup hosted in South Africa in February.
The FTP will also see South Africa play in two once-off Test matches during extended tours against Australia and England in 2024.
Following an enthralling multi-format tour against England last month, South Africa will next take on India and the West Indies in a T20 International (T20I) Tri-series at home in January next year. This will be used as final preparation ahead of the home T20 World Cup.
The team’s IWC expedition towards the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup in India resumes with a three-match One-Day International (ODI) series away to Pakistan in September 2023. Those crucial matches will be accompanied by a three-match T20I series.
That will be immediately followed by a similar trip to India that features another two three-match encounters in T20I and ODI cricket
South Africa will then host two subcontinent sides in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in both formats in December 2023 – January 2024 prior to departing for a tour down under to Australia where a single Test match as well as a trio of ODI matches and T20I clashes will be played.
In the last season of the cycle, South Africa will reignite their battle with England at home in a reverse multi-format contest between the two nations, including another Test match held in December 2024, before playing hosts to New Zealand in another six-match white-ball inbound tour at the start of 2025.
The Proteas will wrap up the cycle with an away tour to the West indies for three T20Is and three ODIs before the 50-over World Cup in the subcontinent later that year.
The full list of the forthcoming major ICC Women’s tournaments entails the Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September – October 2024 as well as the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup in England and the Women’s T20 Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in February 2027.
The dates and venues will be confirmed in due course. The complete ICC Women’s FTP can be located here.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) Director of Cricket, Enoch Nkwe commented:
“This is a brilliant addition for international cricket. It adds clarity for all the players, management, and administrators, allowing for meticulous plotting of the journey towards our shared purpose of helping the Proteas Women remain near the top of the ICC rankings.
“The team have begun an intriguing cycle enroute to the next 50-over World Cup and will no doubt continue to make us proud unceasingly in the process.”
CSA Chief Executive Officer, Pholetsi Moseki said:
“The establishing of the inaugural ICC Women’s FTP is a significant occasion for women’s cricket on the global stage. The programme will not only assist in providing structure and consistency in long- term planning and scheduling, but it will also go a long way in the prioritisation of resources to ensure ultimate readiness for the impending tours and events.
“We are extremely excited to see the continued evolution of the Momentum Proteas as they take on the rest of the world, at home and abroad,” Moseki concluded.
