Australia presented with ICC Women’s Championship Trophy

After winning the elite 10-team tournament that served as a qualifying tournament for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, Australia was given the ICC Women’s Championship trophy today.

In Melbourne, Cricket Australia Chair and ICC Director Mike Baird presented the trophy to captain Alyssa Healy on behalf of the International Cricket Council.

The tournament was established in 2014 to promote women’s cricket and has played a key role in securing additional women’s cricket tours in the last ten years. Australia has now won all three of its editions.

The trophy was won by Meg Lanning the first two occasions, in 2014–16 and 2017–20, when eight teams—Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies—participated. Ireland and Bangladesh were included in the third edition, which took place in 2022–2025.

Jay Shah, the chair of the ICC, praised the Australian team for their years of reliability and the other teams for their excellent performances that added intrigue to the competition.

“I want to congratulate Australia on their resounding victory in the ICC Women’s Championship,” said ICC Chair Jay Shah. They have set very high standards for women’s cricket and have been incredibly consistent over the years.

Seeing so many strong performances from other teams during the competition is also encouraging.

“The ICC Women’s Championship’s competitive nature and the development of the women’s game, which is a major area of focus for us, are highlighted by the points position.”

Healy claimed that winning the title was an amazing experience and that her team’s achievement was a direct result of their steady play throughout the cycle.

Alyssa Healy, captain of Australia: “We are thrilled to have won the ICC Women’s Championship.

Being able to play the teams we did was a wonderful cycle. It was thrilling to win in the end since it was fiercely contested and went right down to the last second. We crossed the finish line with a couple strong performances, and maybe it will carry over into the next cycle.

Being aware of your World Cup qualification early on is undoubtedly very advantageous. Although we lost a few games along the way, finishing at the top of the ladder put us in a strong position going into the World Cup.

Given this cycle’s characteristics, the ODI World Cup is expected to be a competitive event. Although we have played a lot in India, we are unsure of what we will get because the ODI format might have unpredictable circumstances.

“We can’t wait to arrive because we know there will be a lot of people competing for that trophy.”

Presenting the ICC Women’s Championship Trophy to Alyssa and the Australian Women’s Cricket Team was a great honor, and I want to congratulate them on yet another outstanding accomplishment,” said Mike Baird, chair of Cricket Australia.

“Our world champion squad has been among Australia’s most successful sports teams for a while and always sets the standard higher when they take the field.

“We are all very proud of them, and they are an inspiration to all Australians, especially the next generation of participants.”

All teams competed in the tournament against eight other teams in home or away three-match series, with Australia guaranteeing its top spot in the points standings with 39 points from 24 games.

The top four countries have another chance to qualify through a qualifier, while the top five teams and hosts India have already qualified for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025.

The other direct entrants are India (37), England (32), South Africa (25), Sri Lanka (22) and New Zealand (21). The worst four will compete in the qualifier; specifics will be revealed when the time comes.

New Zealand and Bangladesh were level on 21 points, but the Kiwis advanced because they had more title victories.

Scotland and Thailand, the two other top-ranked nations as of October 31, 2024, will join Bangladesh, West Indies (18), Pakistan (17), and Ireland (eight) in the Cricket World Cup qualifier. In the Qualifier, two slots are available.