Zimbabwe set to join 2026-29 ICC Women’s Championship despite lower ranking

The Zimbabwe Women’s national cricket team is set to join the other Full Member sides in the ICC Women’s ODI Championship for the upcoming 2026-29 edition. International Cricket Council (ICC) earlier confirmed that the multi-year Women’s ODI competition will be expanded to include more teams.

The 2022–2025 ICC Women's Championship is the third edition of the competition. This tournament serves as a qualification for the 2025 Women's Cricket World Cup. The top five teams and host India will secure direct World Cup spots, while the remaining four teams will compete for the World Cup spots.

Women's Championship Introduced In 2014 With Eight Teams

The Women’s Championship was introduced in 2014 with Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies. The first two cycles served as qualifying pathways for the 2017 and 2022 ODI World Cups. Australia. The same teams competed in the first two cycles.

Australia emerged as the winner in the first two editions of the Women’s Championship. The tournament featured eight teams playing a three-match ODI series against each other, either home or away, over 2.5 years. The top three teams and the hosts secured direct qualification for the Women’s World Cup.

ICC To Include Zimbabwe In Women's ODI Championship From 2026

The ICC expanded the 2022-25 cycle of the Women’s Championship to ten teams. Ireland and Bangladesh were added to the ongoing cycle. The top five finishers and hosts India will qualify directly for the 2025 World Cup. The remaining four teams will compete in a qualifier against the next best-ranked teams.

A Cricbuzz report added that the upcoming ICC Women's Championship will include all Full Member nations except Afghanistan, which does not have a women's team. Lady Chevrons, who were awarded WODI status in 2021, will join the league despite being in 14th place in the Women's ODI ranking table.

ICC Confident In Zimbabwe's Ability - Report

Cricbuzz reported that Zimbabwe's promotion to the ICC Women's Championship was influenced by strategic and financial factors. The ICC is confident in Zimbabwe's ability to fulfill touring and hosting responsibilities, leading to their inclusion over Associate Teams.

"Strategic and financial considerations pertaining to medium-term scheduling, fixture certainty and confidence that Zimbabwe, as a full member, would be able to meet touring and hosting obligations played into the decision to elevate them over Associate sides," a report by Cricbuzz said.

Lady Chevrons are ranked lower than three of the five Associate WODI teams on the Women's ODI rankings: the Netherlands (13th), Scotland (12th), and Thailand (9th).

Also read: 'Emotional' Kuldeep Yadav pays tribute to Shane Warne: "I’ve lost someone from my family"