Inaugural ICC Women’s Emerging Nations Trophy announced

The T20I tournament will be played by the top eight Associate Members, of which five hold ODI status, and the remaining three the highest-ranked teams in ICC Women's T20I Team Rankings at the May 1 2025 cut-off.

The eight teams will play each other once in a single round-robin structure, with the trophy to be lifted on November 30. Matches will be split between the Terdthai Cricket Ground and the Asian Institute of Technology Ground in Bangkok.

The hosts come into the tournament as the highest-ranked (11th), and do enjoy a nine-match winning streak in completed matches, though will be tested with the bat against a strong field.

They take on Scotland on the final matchday on 30 November in a match to possibly decide the trophy winners, though it was the Scots who prevailed when the teams met at last year’s T20 World Cup Qualifier, where the European side went on to claim a ticket to the tournament proper.

The Scots could lay claim to being tournament favourites in the upcoming competition, though they will have to perform without usual skipper Kathryn Bryce, with sister Sarah entrusted to lead the side. Saskia Horley is also unavailable.

Fellow European outfit The Netherlands aim to carry on after the retirement of former captain Heather Siegers, with wicket-keeper Babette de Leede leading the side after taking over from Siegers last December. The side come into the tournament fresh from a successful T20 World Cup Regional Qualifier in the 2026 cycle, where they booked tickets to the Global Qualifier early next year.

To reflect a strong standard and framework in the short format in Africa, three sides from the region take part in the first iteration of the Emerging Nations Trophy, having all qualified for the competition thanks to their T20I rankings.

Namibia at 17th is the highest-ranked of the trio and hold bragging rights over the other two having also progressed to the upcoming T20 World Cup Global Qualifier, and Tanzania have the wood over Uganda, having beaten them twice in recent regional action.

While in the midst of a wholesale squad shuffle, Papua New Guinea remain a threat in the tournament race, coming in off the back of a victorious East Asia-Pacific T20 World Cup Qualifier Qualifier campaign in Fiji in September.

Wicket-keeper Brenda Tau leads the new-look side who found runs through recalled big hitter Konio Oala and top-order standout Naoni Vare, with Henao Thomas and Isabel Toua likely to dictate through spin.

The ICC have also announced another two new women's tournaments to help further promote Associate Members, with the ICC Women’s Challenge Trophy tournament featuring five teams starting in 2026 and the first edition to be held in Rwanda.

The Challenge trophy will feature the top team from the five ICC development regions – Africa, Americas, Asia, East Asia Pacific and Europe - who are not part of the Emerging Nations Trophy, identified through their regional qualifying events.

The other new tournament will be an eight-team event that will commence in 2027 that will give Associate Member teams a chance to play some of the top ranked teams as part of ICC’s strategy to provide high performance support to Associate Members in the T20I format.

The name of this event will be announced in due course.

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