WBBL window safe, but women lose holiday-period Tests

Cricket Australia has been forced to move all future women's internationals out of the best-selling school-holiday window, to accommodate India's WPL becoming a January tournament from next summer.

International authorities confirmed the next four years of the women's Future Tours Programme on Monday night, which brings with it a significant increase in matches.

Australia are scheduled to play eight Tests in the four-year period, including their first in the West Indies for 50 years in 2026, and a maiden long-format fixture in South Africa in 2027.

There is also good news for CA, with a clear protective window for the WBBL in November, with limited internationals for the big teams through that period each year.

Australian players and administrators had privately held fears that the WPL could one day take over the period, with India officials looking to move the tournament from its previous slot in March.

But there is a trade-off. The decision to instead move the WPL to January means Australia can no longer host internationals through the school-holiday period, when it traditionally attracts its best crowds.

Instead, all home series against the likes of India, England, South Africa and New Zealand will be played in February and March, after the summer school holidays end and closer to the football seasons starting.

Australian players have previously been vocal about the need for a more structured schedule, with a preference for matches to be played in a school-holiday window to better attract fans.

"It's probably just making (fans) aware it is on," Australia's captain Alyssa Healy told AAP recently, before the schedule had been decided.

"That's been the bugbear of a lot of us over the years, that our schedule changes quite frequently.

"The boys, their Test matches are in the same spot every year. You know you're going to the Boxing Day Test, you know you're going to the Sydney Test.

"Not knowing where we are playing has been a thing ... I think during the school holidays would be ideal though."

The WPL's move to January also means that the WBBL cannot move back alongside the men's BBL in coming years, an idea that has previously been floated for the competition.

That format has worked well in England for the Hundred, where men's and women's matches are played as double-headers.

Along with the WBBL and WPL windows, the global schedule also offers free air for the Hundred tournament each August.

The door is also open for Australia to potentially host the 2028 T20 World Cup, to be held just months after cricket's entry to the Los Angeles Olympics.

Australia are already hosting the men's tournament in October of that year, with the women's event to now be played in September.