Women's international cricket became officially integrated with the men's game under the umbrella of the ICC after the eighth Women's World Cup in South Africa in 2005 which was won by Australia.

At present, 71 of the ICC's 101 members have some form of organised cricket or girls' cricket going on and that number is growing all the time. With domestic women's cricket now started in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe competing in and winning its first competitive international tournament, women's cricket is now being organised and played in each of the ten full Members.

In 2006, the top ten nations played a total of 32 One Day Internationals and three Test Matches and for the first time there was a Women's Cricketer of the Year award at the annual ICC Awards, with Karen Rolton picking up the trophy.

The main positive developments in women's cricket can be broken down into two areas. Firstly the development of the game beyond its traditional boundaries has been very encouraging. There were a number of inaugural regional Women's World Cup qualifying events across the world and there was also a very successful women's academy for European players that took place in Scotland in August 2006.

Secondly, there has been encouraging integration between the Members' cricket boards and what used to be their women's cricket counterparts, notably in India. The ICC now deals with only one body per Member for men's and women's cricket although there is still further work to be done in some countries in this regard.

The Women's World Cup Qualifier will take place in Pakistan in November 2007, with teams battling to win a place at the Women's World Cup in Australia in 2009.

The next ICC Women's World Cup takes place in Australia in 2009.

For more information on women's cricket integration please click here.