The next cycle of the Women's Championship could feature ten teams with Bangladesh and Ireland featuring alongside the current eight members.

The clamour for Bangladesh to become part of the Women's Championship has grown louder in recent months, particularly after they lifted their maiden Asia Cup title in June. In that tournament, Bangladesh beat two Championship teams in Pakistan and India (twice, including in the final).

Yesterday at ICC headquarters, bigwigs like ICC CEO Dave Richardson, general manager of the Anti-Corruption Unit Alex Marshall and general manager of cricket Geoff Allardice spoke to the media about the state of cricket in 2018.

Allardice was talking in excited tones about women's cricket and how the previous Women's World Twenty20 had set attendance and viewing records for the women's game. While the Bangladesh men's team staged a thrilling turnaround the previous day in the Asia Cup in Abu Dhabi, it was their female counterparts that got special mention because of their recent brilliance in upstaging India in the Women's Asia Cup final in Malaysia in June and following that up by winning the World T20 qualifiers in the Netherlands.

"We'll take it up with the chief executives to discuss the structure of the Women's Championship from the next cycle. The discussion in October will be about what the future and the formats of the Women's Championship cycle will be," ICC general manager Allardice said.

"Having said that, we acknowledge the giant strides Bangladesh have taken in recent times. They are starting to emerge as a strong team and we must ensure they get every opportunity to improve," he added.

Currently, New Zealand women's team, are lead the championship table for 2017 till 2021, are followed by Australia, England, West Indies, Pakistan, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka in the eight-team championship.