Afghanistan had 25 contracted women cricketers in 2020, most of whom have resettled in Australia with humanitarian visas due to restrictions at home under the hardline Taliban government.
The WCA's most striking solution to that problem is a complete overhaul of the International Cricket Council's existing future tours programme.
The T20 competition barred the practice after it was banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as a precautionary measure during the pandemic.
West Indies legend Sir Andy Roberts slammed the International Cricket Council (ICC) for giving in to India’s wishes in the recently-concluded ICC Champions Trophy in which the Men in Blue refused to travel to the tournament’s host country Pakistan.
Over the last three ICC events, India have lost just one match -- the 2023 ODI World Cup final -- leading many to argue that they hardly needed what some have termed an “unfair advantage” of playing exclusively in Dubai.
The International Cricket Council, which has former Indian board secretary Jay Shah as its current chairman, has been criticised for obliging the game's financial engine by letting India camp in Dubai.
Beyond the spectacle, a larger question looms: what does this tournament, returning after eight long years, mean for the future of ODI cricket?
Australia have now won all three editions of the championship, which was instituted in 2014 to grow the women’s game and has been instrumental in ensuring more women’s cricket tours over the past decade.
Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai built on an impressive 2023 to become one of the world’s leading One Day International performers in 2024, with his right-arm pace bowling and multi-faceted batting game helping take the Afghanistan team to a new level.
Earlier this month, the ICC informed the Pakistan Cricket Board that India would not tour Pakistan for the eight-team tournament, leaving the fate of the event hanging in the balance.
The governing International Cricket Council (ICC) is in talks with several boards which have yet to pay prize money from this year's Twenty20 World Cup to the players, sources told Reuters on Thursday.
The incident took place while England were fielding, with Topley leaving the field after sustaining an injury and found to have taken hold of a chair and aggressively hitting it against the handrail.
The Champions Trophy is slated to be played across three venues -- Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi -- from February 19 to March 9 next year.
India and Australia remain in the top two spots on the standings and a repeat of the memorable 2023 final at The Oval remains a distinct possibility.
In August, the ICC charged Jayawickrama for failing to report an approach to fix matches and obstructing an investigation.
The tournament, which is being held in the United Arab Emirates, gets underway on Wednesday 3 October when host nation Bangladesh face Scotland at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
A group of 10 umpires and three match referees have been appointed as the Emirates ICC Match Officials to oversee the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, which will be hosted by Bangladesh in the UAE.
Incoming ICC Chair Jay Shah has vowed to prioritise Test cricket in his new role and has promised to allocate more resources to women’s cricket during his tenure.
The 39 runs conceded from the over was the most in the history of men's T20I, surpassing the famous 36-run feat achieved by Yuvraj Singh at the inaugural ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2007 and more recent efforts from Kieron Pollard (2021), Nicholas Pooran (2024), Dipendra Singh Airee (2024) and Rohit Sharma / Rinku Singh (2024).
