UAE gain women's ODI status, USA lose theirs

UAE have replaced USA in the list of 16 women's teams with ICC ODI status for the 2025-29 cycle, which will come into effect on May 12. The 16 teams include five Associate members: Thailand, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea and Scotland, who have all retained their status, apart from UAE.

Thailand and Scotland made sure of their ODI status after getting to the women's ODI World Cup qualifier, held recently, while PNG and Netherlands retained their status based on their T20I rankings. PNG are at 13th and Netherlands 15th on the T20I rankings. Thailand and Scotland are at 11th and 12th place on the same rankings respectively.

At the World Cup qualifiers held in Pakistan earlier this month, Scotland beat West Indies and Thailand to finish fourth out of six teams, with Thailand placed bottom after losing all their five games. Pakistan and Bangladesh made the cut for the World Cup, to be hosted later this year by India, from the tournament, though Pakistan are expected to not travel to India and will play their matches elsewhere.

UAE confirmed their ODI status as the next-highest-ranked Associate team - at No. 16 on the T20I table - at the time of the annual rankings update. Teams with ODI status are required to play at least eight ODIs over a three-to-four-year period to achieve or maintain a ranking.

Australia maintained their stronghold on the No.1 ranking with 299 rating points and even extended their lead over second-placed England (279) from 18 points to 20 after the update.

USA are currently playing a bilateral series against Zimbabwe, where they lost the T20I series 2-1 and won the first ODI by seven wickets on Thursday. The second and final ODI will be played on Saturday. UAE, meanwhile, are currently in Bangkok, taking part in a quadrangular T20I series also involving hosts Thailand, Hong Kong and Kuwait.