Three-match ODI Limit Is Not Helping Game Evolve

Alison Mitchell says women should be encouraged to play as much international cricket as possible... in all forms

- Alison Mitchell

With the dust having settled on the most watched Women’s World Cup the world had ever seen, international women’s cricket returned this week with the start of the qualifying period for the next World Cup, to be held in New Zealand in 2021. However, while Twenty20 cricket is being heavily encouraged by the ICC, teams are not being allowed to schedule more than three ODIs per tour, as part of the ICC Women’s Championship.

It seems curious, that, at a time when Women’s cricket has never enjoyed such profile, the number of 50-over matches is being curtailed. Admittedly there is a World T20 on the horizon (next Autumn in Barbados), for which teams will want to prepare, but the message I kept hearing from players during the recent World Cup was that they needed to be playing more cricket – and the emphasis was on the longer form in order to really develop skills and ensure plenty of players got opportunities. How many times, for example, does the number six batter really get a long innings in a T20?

This next, two-year cycle of One Day International matches – the ICC Women’s Championship – starts with West Indies taking on Sri Lanka in Trinidad, before Australia host England in a multi-format Ashes series, of which the three ODIs count towards World Cup qualification. India, whose run to the World Cup final generated such excitement in their home country, aren’t in action again until they play South Africa in February – more than six months since the World Cup ended.