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. The second edition will comprise 10 teams, including five Test-playing nations, and 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 was held in Bangkok from November 20 to 30 and featured Scotland, the Netherlands, the UAE, PNG, Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania and hosts Thailand. Thailand emerged champions after four teams finished level on points, with the winner identified on net run rate.

The ICC, under chairman Jay Shah, intends to give a major fillip to women's cricket. Following the blockbuster Women's World Cup, which recorded unprecedented global viewership and was 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 on a strategy refresh for women's cricket, including recommendations on how the ICC could potentially increase its revenues tenfold over the next decade.

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

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, scheduled to meet in Ahmedabad on May 30.