ACS Women's International Cricket Year Book 2026

9 2018/19 which is also when they were accepted as being ranked in the men’s BCCI tournaments. The first domestic Twenty20 inter-state tournament was in April 2009 and has been played annually ever since, and in addition the IPL has started a Women’s Premier League which now features women’s teams from five of the men’s IPL franchises. The first first-class tournament run by BCCI was a two-day inter-state tournament in 2007/08 which was repeated the following season, but then no more were played until an annual inter-zonal tournament from 2014/15 to 2017/18 and 2023/24, and a three-day Challenger Trophy in 2024/25. The last four seasons of tournaments before the BCCI took over have several matches with details not known. IRELAND The Inter-Provincial Tournament started in 1980 and ran until 2010 (latterly with only two teams) but the matches are only ranked List A from 1985, as Ireland were admitted to membership of IWCC in January 1985. In 1986 and 1987 the tournament was played as one-day but not limited overs so not ranked. Domestic cricket returned in 2015 with the Super 3s, three composite teams playing a mixture of 50 and 20 over, initially as one tournament but split into separate events from 2021, all ranked. NEW ZEALAND The New Zealand Women’s Cricket Council was formed in 1934 with the impending visit of the England team in 1934/35, although individual provincial organisations existed before that. The major associations at the time were Auckland, Wanganui and Wellington in the North Island, and Canterbury, Otago and Southland in the South Island. The Amalgamated Theatres Shield was presented for any club, city or representative team to take part, and was first played for in 1932/33, but when Canterbury won in 1933/34 it was decided that henceforth only teams from the North Island could compete. The matches for that shield were all two innings per side but one-day matches so none are ranked. Similarly, apart from the Test match all the games against England in 1934/35 were one-day so also not ranked. The Mary Machin Shield was presented in 1932/33 for the South Island provinces and except for the initial game these were two-day matches and so are ranked as first-class up to 1943. After that the Shield became a competition for the minor associations and second XIs of the major associations in the South Island. In 1935 the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield was presented to Auckland on a challenge basis (as per the early years of the men’s Plunket Shield) as a country wide competition. In this format a province could challenge the holders but had to win the match outright to take the shield. The first challenge took place in 1935/36, and these matches were a minimum of two days and so are all ranked First-Class. After the War the Shield changed to a league basis each season. It was played as a one-day limited- overs competition (so List A) in 1981/82 with the World Cup following, but the domestic tournament reverted to two-day matches as the Hansells Cup in 1982/83, and continued with various different sponsor names until the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield name was reactivated in 2017/18. The tournament was permanently changed to List A limited overs from 1992/93. A separate Twenty20 competition was instituted in 2007/08 and has been played annually ever since.