ICC approves expansion of women's cricket, term of chairman to be expanded

The ICC Board has recommended changes to the term of its Chair and Independent Director to two terms of three years, which, if implemented, would mean doing away with the current three terms of two years each.

The recommendation, if approved by the members, would mean that BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is set to take over as the global cricket body's chief on December 1 this year, will head the ICC for three years, after which he can seek a second three-year term with the board's approval.  Check India vs New Zealand 2nd Test Day 2 LIVE SCORE and MATCH UPDATES HERE

The bulk of Shah's first term will overlap with his cooling off period of three years in the BCCI, which would have started in September 2025.

One can be an office bearer in the Indian board for a cumulative period of 18 years with nine years in the board and an equal number of years in the state unit.

However, as per the Supreme Court-approved constitution, a person needs to go for a mandatory cooling off period of three years after he has been in the BCCI or its state unit as an office bearer for a consecutive period of six years. 

During the ICC board meeting, the global body also approved a series of women's Associate Member T20 competitions to boost the competitiveness of smaller cricket-playing nations as it prepares for the expansion of women's events in the 2028-2031 cycle.

"The strategy includes the creation of two annual T20 International tournaments between 2025 and 2028, which would offer structured cricket with context to 24 teams in the pathway ahead of the 16-team ICC Women's T20 World Cup in 2030, with further details to be announced in due course," said the ICC statement.

The ICC board also approved the 2025-2029 women's Futures Tour Programme (FTP) and calendar, which will be published soon.

"It was also approved by the ICC Chief Executives' Committee (CEC) that the Women's rankings annual update will now move to May 1 from October 1 of each year and teams will now need to have played a minimum of eight matches from six, due to the significant increase in women's international cricket."  The Chief Executives' Committee also confirmed the mechanism for ODI status for the five Associate Member women's teams of the 16 for the 2025-2029 cycle. It will comprise a maximum of two Associate Members that qualify for the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2025 with the remaining slots determined by the ICC T20I team rankings at the time of the annual update.