The next global tournament on the International Cricket Council (ICC) calendar for its senior women’s teams is the forthcoming, Women’s T20 World Cup that’ll be played early next year in South Africa from the 10th to the 26th of February and in the lead-up to the mega ICC event, teams have their schedules packed for the following couple of the months.
The mega ICC event will see 10 nations be a part of which direct qualifications were handed out to hosts South Africa and the top 7 teams on the ICC Twenty20 Internationals (T20I’s) rankings as of 30 November 2021 among the teams that took part in Australia held T20 World Cup in 2020.
The 8 teams handed direct qualifications are; hosts South Africa, Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies and the final two positions were contested during an 8-team qualifier event which had Ireland and Bangladesh hand respective defeats to Zimbabwe and Thailand and in making it to the finals of the tournament, also confirmed their berths for the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
Initially, India in their lead-up to the ICC tournament were scheduled to play Australia in December 2022 and likewise, the West Indies were scheduled to play England. Cricket South Africa (CSA) now has invited both, India and the West Indies for a Women’s T20 International (T20I) Tri-Series in East London from the 19th of January to the 2nd of February 2023, serving visitors with a perfect build-up.
The three teams are scheduled to play a couple of T20I games against each side for a place in the Tri-Series Final and all of the matches on the Tri-Series schedule are to be played at the Buffalo Park Cricket Stadium.
Tri-Series Schedule:
| DATE | MATCH | TIME (SAST) |
| 19-Jan-2023 | South Africa vs India | 19:00 |
| 21-Jan-2023 | South Africa vs West Indies | 15:00 |
| 23-Jan-2023 | India vs West Indies | 19:00 |
| 25-Jan-2023 | South Africa vs West Indies | 15:00 |
| 28-Jan-2023 | South Africa vs India | 19:00 |
| 30-Jan-2023 | West Indies vs India | 15:00 |
| 02-Feb-2023 | TBD vs TBD (Final) | 15:00 |
*All games will be played at Buffalo Park, East London.
CSA’s Director of Cricket, Enoch Nkwe, said, “With the eyes of the cricketing world set to converge on South Africa for the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, we are pleased to welcome India and the West Indies to our shores as head coach Hilton Moreeng and the team complete their readiness for the global showpiece in February.
“These two sides are up there with the most talented and entertaining nations in women’s T20 cricket, having featured in two of the last four finals, with the West Indies lifting the trophy in 2016. This will give the Momentum Proteas a highly competitive build-up to the ultimate prize of the T20 World Cup.”
CSA’s Chief Executive, Pholetsi Moseki, added, “This is a very exciting time for cricket fans in South Africa. These seven T20 matches hosted at Buffalo Park in East London will provide an exciting opportunity for the public to witness the ladies in action once again, in their own backyard, as an appetizer for what’s to come a month later in Cape Town, Gqeberha and Paarl.
“On behalf of Cricket South Africa (CSA), I would like to extend my gratitude to the Board of Control for Cricket in India and Cricket West Indies for their collaboration in organizing the series at a critical stage of the season.”
(Quotes sourced from CSA media release)