LONDON: A new international championship, which will determine qualification for the next Women´s World Cup, was announced by the International Cricket Council on Wednesday.
The bilateral competition will involve the top eight ranked women´s teams in the world -- including England, Australia, West Indies, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, India and Pakistan.
They will all play the others in a series of matches between mid-2014 to the end of 2016, with the top six qualifying automatically for the 2017 Women´s World Cup in England.
Unlike changes to the men´s international programme announced on Tuesday, there will be promotion and relegation at the end of the first cycle.
"This is a very positive step for the profile and competitiveness of women´s cricket," said ICC chief executive David Richardson, in a statement issued from the governing body´s Dubai headquarters on the second and final day of its board meeting on Wednesday.
"The ICC Women´s World Cup last year set a new benchmark in terms of quality and public interest and with this added context the pathway to the 2017 event in England looks really exciting," former South Africa wicket-keeper Richardson added.
The bottom countries at the end of the International Women´s Championship will be joined by a number of teams from the ICC´s regional qualification structures to play in a Women´s World Cup qualifier which will determine the final participants.
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