LAHORE: Pakistan will host England, New Zealand and Zimbabwe women’s cricket teams for the first time as the ICC announced Future Tours Programme (FTP) 2025-29.

The Zimbabwe squad will visit Pakistan in April-May 2026 while New Zealand will tour the country in April 2027 while Engl­and women’s side will tour Pakis­tan in October in the same year.

The fourth cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship, which will be played from 2026-29 will see 11 sides taking part in the event for direct qualification to the Women’s 50-over World Cup in 2029. Zimbabwe will feature in the event for the first time.

In the Women’s Championship, each team will compete against eight other teams, following the format of four home and four away series, similar to the current edition. Across 44 series, a total of 132 ODIs will be played, with each series consisting of three matches.

In the Championship, the fou­rth side to visit Pakistan will be Bangladesh and they will come in October 2028. As part of their four away assignments, Pakistan will travel to South Africa in February 2026 and then play Sri Lanka in July the same year.

In November 2026, Pakistan will visit the West Indies while the­­ir final away series in the ICC Wo­­men’s Championship 2026-29 cy­cle will be in Ireland in June 2028.

The FTP will see an ICC women’s tournament taking place eve­ry year, starting with the Women’s World Cup 2025 in Ind­ia, the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 in England, the inaugural Women’s Champions Trophy in 2027 and the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2028.

Also, to prepare for ICC events, members have mutually scheduled tri-series tournaments. Ahe­ad of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 in England, Ireland will host Pakistan and the West Indies.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2024