Increased engagements for Tigresses in first FTP

According to the first women's Future Tours Programme (FTP), announced by the ICC on Tuesday, Bangladesh's journey in the third edition of the ICC Women's Championship will begin in December this year when the Tigresses tour New Zealand for three ODIs and as many T20s. 

Compared to 11 international matches in the previous cycle, Bangladesh will have 24 international matches in the new three-year cycle that began in May this year and runs until the conclusion of the ODI World Cup in 2025. The Tigresses will also play 26 T20s in the latest cycle. 
 
This is the first time that Bangladesh, alongside Ireland, will be participating in the ICC Women's Championship, a 10-team competition that will determine qualification for the 2025 Women's ODI Cricket World Cup in India. 

Each team are set to play a total of eight three-match bilateral ODI series -- four at home and four away from home -- as part of the 2022-25 ICC Women's Championships.  

After the tour to New Zealand, Bangladesh's next assignment will be away to Sri Lanka in January next year. The Tigresses will host India, in June-July, and Pakistan, in October-November, before capping the year off with an away tour to South Africa in December. 

In 2024, Bangladesh will have two series, both at home, against Australia in March-April and Ireland in December. The Tigresses will then end the championship cycle with a tour away to West Indies in January 2025.  

For Bangladesh, all the three-match ODI series in each of the aforementioned engagements, as part of the ICC Women's Championship, are accompanied by corresponding T20 series. The Tigresses will play three T20s in each of these series except for the series away to Ireland in 2024, in which they are scheduled to play five T20s. 

Meanwhile, a total of 301 international matches, including seven Test matches, 135 ODIs and 159 T20Is, will be played in the latest cycle.

Also, one of the highlights of the women's calendar revealed by ICC today is England's next trip to Australia for the multi-format Ashes series. It will be a standalone series at the start of 2025, with the corresponding men's series coming later that year.