Fixtures locked in for first ICC Women's Challenge Trophy
Hosts Rwanda kick off inaugural edition of ICC T20I Challenge Trophy for Women from April 18.
The schedule of inaugural ICC T20I Challenge Trophy for Women has been confirmed in Rwanda.
Held in Kigali, the hosts take on Italy on the April 18 opening day of the five-team tournament, while Nepal take on the USA. Vanuatu have a bye on day one, before taking on Rwanda on April 19. The Gahanga Cricket Stadium's two adjoining grounds will host host the tournament.
The tournament is one of the new events added by the ICC to the international calendar to provide more exposure to Associate Members, along with the Emerging Nations Trophy, the inaugural edition of which was held last November. It features the highest placed team from each of the ICC’s five regions to not feature in the Emerging Nations Trophy.
All five teams confirmed their participation through their finishing positions in the regional Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers in 2025.
USA v Thailand | Match Highlights | Women's T20 World Cup Global Qualifier
Watch the highlights of USA keeping their qualification hopes alive after defeating Thailand by 28 runs at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup Global Qualifier 2026.
A double round-robin event, the tournament runs until May 2, with the aim of providing a high level of match exposure, and to prepare teams to play stronger opponents as the ICC looks to expand the horizon of the women's game, a high priority of the world body.
It comes as the Women's T20 World Cup expands to 12 teams in 2026, with the ICC Board in 2024 also confirming that the Women’s T20 World Cup of 2030 will feature 16 teams.
Having featured at the last Global Qualifier for the Women's T20 World Cup in January and February, Nepal and the USA come into the tournament as the teams to beat, with the former also the highest-ranked team at 21st in the ICC Women's T20I Team Rankings.
Nepal v Zimbabwe | Match Highlights | Women's T20 World Cup Global Qualifier
Watch the highlights of Nepal securing their first win of the T20 World Cup Global Qualifier with a clinical performance against Zimbabwe.
While Vanuatu come into the team at 30th, the side beat 20th-ranked Indonesia in the last East Asia-Pacific T20 World Cup Qualifier in Fiji last year, on their way to securing a spot at the upcoming tournament.
Indonesia v Vanuatu | Match Highlights | ICC Women's T20 World Cup East Asia Pacific Qualifier
Vanuatu beat Indonesia by 7 runs.
The tournament will be streamed live and free on ICC.tv.
Schedule
April 18
9:00am - Rwanda vs Italy
1:00pm - Nepal vs USA
April 19
9:00am - Rwanda vs Vanuatu
1:00pm - Italy vs Nepal
April 21
9:00am - Rwanda vs USA
1:00pm - Vanuatu vs Italy
April 22
9:00am - Rwanda vs Nepal
1:00pm - USA vs Vanuatu
April 24
9:00am - Nepal vs Vanuatu
1:00pm - Italy vs USA
April 26
9:00am - Rwanda vs Vanuatu
1:00pm - USA vs Nepal
April 27
9:00am - Rwanda vs Italy
1:00pm - USA vs Vanuatu
April 28
9:00am - Rwanda vs Nepal
1:00pm - Italy vs Vanuatu
April 3
9:00am - Italy vs USA
1:00pm - Nepal vs Vanuatu
May 1
9:00am - Rwanda vs USA
1:00pm - Italy vs Nepal
All matches will take place at Gahanga Cricket Stadiums' two grounds in Kigali.
