ICC to widen Women's Emerging Nations Trophy

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to broaden the Women's Emerging Nations Trophy, which was launched last year. Unlike the inaugural edition held in November 2025 that featured eight Associate teams, the second edition will comprise 10 teams, including five Test-playing nations. The tournament is scheduled to be held in November this year.

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland will join the Netherlands, Scotland, Thailand, the UAE and Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the 10-team championship. The decision was among the key outcomes of the ICC Chief Executives Committee (CEC) meeting conducted online on Thursday.

The inaugural edition of the championship was held in Bangkok from November 20 to 30 and featured Scotland, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Papua New Guinea, Namibia, Uganda and Tanzania, besides hosts Thailand. Thailand emerged champions after four teams - the hosts, UAE, Scotland and the Netherlands - finished level on points. The champions were eventually identified on net run rate.

The ICC, under the chairmanship of Jay Shah, intends to give a major fillip to women's cricket - a move similar to the one that had far-reaching implications for the women's game in India during his tenure as BCCI secretary. Following the blockbuster Women's World Cup, which recorded unprecedented global viewership and was incidentally won by India, the ICC is now aiming to make women's cricket the most popular women's sport in the world.

In this context, the CEC received a presentation from McKinsey & Company, which advised the ICC on a strategy refresh for women's cricket. The firm also presented recommendations on how the ICC could potentially increase its revenues tenfold over the next decade.

The ICC also heard presentations from representatives of Oliver Wyman on its data monetisation project. The governing body is keen to create a centralised data hub that could potentially generate revenues of at least $100 million. FIFA and the ATP Tour, it is understood, earn close to $200 million each from their respective data platforms.

As previously reported by this website, there was no discussion on men's cricket matters such as the restructuring of the World Test Championship (WTC) or the proposed two-tier Test system. Those issues have been left to the ICC Board, which is scheduled to meet in Ahmedabad on May 30.

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