Women's Cricket: Formats, Major Tournaments, and Key Facts
Women's cricket is played across Tests, ODIs, and T20Is — governed by the ICC with a full calendar of bilateral series and major tournaments. Here is everything you need to know.
Women's cricket is played in the same three formats as the men's game — Test cricket, One Day Internationals (ODIs), and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) — governed globally by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The women's game has grown substantially in the 2020s: crowd records, broadcast rights deals, and player salaries have all expanded. The ICC Women's T20 World Cup and the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup (ODI) are the sport's two flagship tournaments.
Formats
Women's Tests are four-day matches (not five as in the men's game), with each side batting for two innings. They are the rarest format — typically a handful of matches per year globally, often played as part of multi-format series. Women's ODIs are 50-over matches, played in the same format as men's. Women's T20Is are 20-over matches — the format that has grown most rapidly in the 2020s and now drives most broadcast revenue in the women's game.
Major tournaments
The ICC Women's T20 World Cup is held every two years and is the premier T20 event in women's cricket. The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup (ODI) is held every four years and is the most prestigious overall. The ICC Women's Championship is a bilateral ODI league running across multiple years, with the top teams automatically qualifying for the Women's Cricket World Cup. Women's cricket also has the Women's Ashes (Australia vs England), the Women's Premier League (WPL, India), and Women's Big Bash League (WBBL, Australia).
Key differences from the men's game
Beyond the four-day Test format, the playing conditions are broadly similar to men's cricket. Women use a slightly lighter ball (142–151 grams vs men's 155.9–163 grams) and the boundaries are typically shorter. Salary structures remain significantly below the men's game in most countries, though the gap has been closing: England's top women's players became full-time contracted professionals in 2014, and India's BCCI significantly increased women's central contracts in 2022.
Leading nations
Australia are the dominant force in women's cricket — they have won the Women's T20 World Cup seven times (including the 2026 final vs England at Lord's) and the ODI World Cup six times. India won their first Women's ODI World Cup in 2025 (beat South Africa by 52 runs in the Navi Mumbai final). England, New Zealand, and West Indies have all won major ICC tournaments.