At its annual conference, the ICC will confirm the hosts of four major women's global events.
Afghanistan cricket's future, as well as concerns about the growing number of T20 leagues, are likely to be discussed.
Mike2051
During their annual conference, which begins this weekend in Birmingham, the ICC will announce the hosts of four major women's global events in the years 2023-27. The four tournaments include two T20 World Cups, one 50-over World Cup, and one T20 Champions Trophy, which were part of a half-dozen events recently finalized by the ICC as part of the women's rights, which will be sold separately from men's rights for the first time.
The host venues for the women's events will be chosen by a working group of ICC directors, who will select a shortlist from the bids received. ESPNcricinfo has learned that the ICC has received 16 proposals for the four events from seven different countries.
The ICC will make the final decision at its meeting on July 26 based on the recommendations of the working group, which includes former New Zealand fast bowler Martin Snedden, who is also the chairman of New Zealand Cricket, former India captain and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, Cricket West Indies president Ricky Skerritt, and former England women's captain Clare Connor, who is also the acting ECB CEO.
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The annual conference will begin with a meeting of the Chief Executives Committee (CEC) on July 24, followed by a meeting of the Finance & Commercial Affairs committee on July 25, and will conclude with the annual general meeting, which will take place after the board meeting.
Unlike previous cycles, when women's rights were sold as part of the consolidated rights package, the ICC has decided to unbundle the rights for men's and women's events and sell them separately in different territories. There are a total of 103 matches across the six women's events, with rights sold for three packages - TV, digital, and TV and digital combined - for four years.
The goal was to maximize financial returns, and as part of the new plan, the ICC decided to sell the TV and digital rights separately. As a result, a rights tender for men's events in India, the most lucrative market, went on sale recently, with successful bids to be announced in early September.
T20 Leagues vs international cricket
One of the key issues the CEC could debate is the primacy of international cricket and whether it is threatened by the growing number of domestic T20 leagues. The IPL has an extended two-and-a-half-month window in the near-completed version of the ICC's next cycle of FTP (2023-27), and the Hundred and BBL also have home-season windows.
While the ICC has no direct role to play because member countries decide on both bilateral series and T20 league windows, at least one Full Member has publicly expressed concern about franchise-based tournaments encroaching on the international calendar.
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Recently, the PCB wrote to the ICC, expressing concern that "the proliferation of domestic leagues around the world is sucking time out of the international calendar" and requesting the formation of a working group to address the issue.
ACB had promised to offer contracts to 25 female cricketers, but Tailban's arrival halted all progress. Afghanistan Cricket Board
ICC also likely to discuss Afghanistan's future
Another topic that the ICC is likely to address is the future of Afghanistan cricket. Following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan last year, the board formed a working group to observe and review cricket in the war-torn country. The working group's mandate included determining whether women's cricket was truly in "peril," as former Afghanistan Cricket Board member Hamid Shinwari told ESPNcricinfo last year.
When Ahmadullah Wasiq, the deputy head of the Taliban's cultural commission, told SBS News that women shouldn't play cricket because "their face and body will not be covered," there were questions raised about Afghanistan's future in international cricket. In response, Cricket Australia even postponed the Test match against Afghanistan that was slated for Hobart in November.
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Despite the lack of a national women's team, Afghanistan became a Full Member of the ICC in 2017. At the time, the ICC made the exemption conditional on ACB investing in the development of women's sport. The ACB had pledged in November 2020 to offer contracts to 25 women's players with the goal of developing their game, but Tailban's arrival halted all progress.
The ICC working group on Afghanistan is chaired by Imran Khwaja, Ross McCollum, Lawson Naidoo, and Ramiz Raja, and the panel is scheduled to update the board.
The agenda also includes finalizing the process for the ICC chairman election, which is expected to take place in November, when current chair Greg Barclay's first term expires. Aside from that, the members plan to work on FTP further, with a final version expected only after the annual conference.
