The year 2023 was full of growth, challenges and history in the world of women’s cricket. We saw the Indian team lifting their first ICC trophy in the form of the U-19 World Cup, the inauguration of the Women’s Premier League, the Australian team winning another ICC trophy in the form of the WT20 World Cup 2023, the greatest captain Meg Lanning retired from international cricket, India winning two historic Tests against England and Australia, and Adelaide Strikers clinching the WBBL Trophy yet again. 

With the end of an eventful year, we have entered into another year full of events, opportunities, challenges, and the WT20 World Cup 2024 as well, let’s delve into how cricket will shape up the year for the Women’s cricket in the year 2024.

Women’s Premier League and other franchise cricket leagues in 2024

After the successful turnaround of events in the history of Indian Women’s Cricket, the second season of the Women’s Premier League is on its way to entertaining cricket enthusiasts. With full of opportunities for young Indian women cricketers to take their careers to a whole new level. 

Apart from the WPL season 2, there’s going to be a lot of franchise cricket in women’s cricket, whether it’s the Caribbean Premier League, The Hundred, or even the women’s Big Bash League at the end of the year, these all league will do nothing but promote the sport among the young girls who aspire to take up the sport and provide them with a truckload of opportunities. 

International cricket in the coming months

While there aren’t many fixtures announced yet, but, surely, the teams will be playing a lot of WT20 Internationals due to the forthcoming of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, which will be taking place in Bangladesh in the month of October. 

The tours that have been announced so far are:

Australia Women’s tour of South Africa (February)

The Australian women’s team after a successful India tour will be heading to South Africa, which is among the toughest conditions to play and also the most beautiful. The ODI tour will provide opportunities for the new players, who will be looking to seize the opportunity and make room for themselves for the World Cup scheduled in the next year.

Pakistan Women’s Tour of England (May)

Pakistan’s women’s team will be touring England, which is probably one of the toughest conditions to be playing cricket. The tour comprises three WODIs and three WT20Is. This particular tour will be important for both the teams going ahead, as they will get to find the right combinations for the upcoming WT20I World Cup and considering that the ODI World Cup is scheduled next year, the teams will have a chance to prepare for that as well and even improve their rankings in the ongoing ICC Women’s Championship which will eventually lead up to the ODI World Cup 2025. 

New Zealand Women in England & England Women in New Zealand (April & June)

While the summer for the English Women’s team is going to be hectic but it also allows them to find the right set of combinations for the upcoming challenges and the same goes for the Kiwis as well. Both of the teams are among the favourites and would be up for challenges in the coming whiteball tours. With the Kiwis hosting England first for an ODI series in April, they will have a chance to dominate in the home conditions, while the English team will be welcoming the Kiwis in June to avenge or dominate in England. 

Sri Lanka tour of South Africa (May)

The Sri Lankan women’s team will be heading to South Africa to challenge themselves in the toughest conditions and prepare for the World Cup 2025. On the other hand, the Proteas will be looking to dominate and seal a 3-Nil win in the three-match ODI series and figure out the perfect combinations for the future.

ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 & its qualifiers

The most important event of the year, ICC Women’s T20 World Cup will be taking place in Bangladesh in the month of October. The teams will try to make the most out of their remaining T20I games and figure out their best 15 players, who will be representing their nations at the greatest level. 

Before the tournament gets underway, the qualifiers will hold utmost importance, considering it allows the associate nations to participate and prove themselves to earn well-deserved recognition in the cricket world. 

With a jam-packed year, we will be waiting to witness the WPL Champions, T20 World Cup Champions, Big Bash Champions and a lot of thrilling and entertaining matches. Along with the thrill, there comes a lot of youngsters, who will be taking the legacy of Meg Lanning, Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami and Shabnim Ismail forward for their respective nations.