The Vanuatu women's national cricket team represents the country of

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

in international

women's cricket Women's cricket is the team sport of cricket when played by woman, women. Its Laws of cricket, rules are almost identical to those in the game played by men, the main change being the use of a smaller cricket ball, ball. Women's cricket is b ...

. It is organised by the game's governing body in the country, the Vanuatu Cricket Association (VCA), which is an associate member of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC). Having made its international debut the previous year, against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, Vanuatu first participated in an international tournament at the 2012

ICC East Asia-Pacific ICC East Asia-Pacific is the International Cricket Council region responsible for administration of the sport of Cricket in East Asia and the Pacific area; Oceania. The ICC EAP was founded in 1996. It is subordinate to the International Cricket ...

regional qualifiers for the World Twenty20, winning two matches and placing fourth out of six teams. At the 2014 edition of the same tournament, they finished last, with only a single win (against the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

). Vanuatu's next major event was the women's tournament at the

2015 Pacific Games The 15th Pacific Games, also known as Port Moresby 2015 or POM 2015, was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, from 4 to 18 July 2015. It was the fifteenth staging of the Pacific Games as well as the third to be hosted in Port Moresby. More tha ...

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. In April 2018, the ICC granted full

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 international (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 international is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The very firs ...

(WT20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

matches played between Vanuatu women and any ICC member since 1 July 2018 have the full WT20I status.

History

"Traditional cricket", similar to the '' kilikiti'' played in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

, has long been popular amongst

Ni-Vanuatu Ni-Vanuatu (informally abbreviated Ni-Van) is a large group of closely related Melanesians, Melanesian ethnic groups native to the island country of Vanuatu. As such, ''ni-Vanuatu'' are a mixed ethnolinguistic group with a shared ethnogenesis tha ...

women, but the standard version of the sport was only popularised in the late 2000s, with the backing of the Vanuatu Cricket Association (VCA) and the

development programme. Vanuatu made its international debut in April 2011, hosting a tri-series against

and a team from the North Coast region of the Australian state of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. In May 2012, the country hosted the 2012 East Asia-Pacific Women's Championship. The tournament was played using the

format, with the winner progressing to the 2013 World Twenty20 Qualifier in Ireland. Vanuatu joined the three teams from the previous 2010 tournament –

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and

– as well as the

and Fiji. In the round-robin stage, Vanuatu recorded wins against Fiji and the Cook Islands, finishing fourth in the table. In the third-place playoff against Samoa, they lost by eight wickets. At the 2014 EAP Women's Championship in Japan (a qualifier for the 2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier), Vanuatu again placed fourth in the group stages, though out of five rather than six teams (Fiji having dropped out). Their only win in the round-robin was by eight runs against the Cook Islands, but they were unable to repeat that in the fifth-place playoff, losing by six wickets. In April 2015, the New Caledonian national women's team toured Vanuatu, playing six matches against Vanuatu in

Port Vila Port Vila ( ; ), or simply Vila (), is the capital of Vanuatu and its largest city. It is on the island of Efate, in Shefa Province. The population was 49,034 as of the 2020 census. In 2020, the population of Port Vila formed 16.3% of the ...

. The tour was part of both sides' preparation for the women's tournament at the

. Vanuatu also played against a mixed men and women's side from the

Melbourne Cricket Club The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is a sports club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia. The MCC is responsible for management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Groun ...

(MCC) in the lead-up to the games.(1 July 2015
"Vanuatu and New Caledonia hope to shine at Pacific Games"
– ICC East Asia-Pacific. Retrieved 10 July 2015. In December 2020, the ICC announced the qualification pathway for the

2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup The 2023 Women's T20 World Cup was the eighth edition of Women's T20 World Cup tournament. It was held in South Africa between 10 February and 26 February 2023. The final took place at Cape Town. Australia won their sixth and third consecutiv ...

. Vanuatu were named in the

2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup EAP Qualifier The 2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup EAP Qualifier was a cricket tournament that was scheduled to be played in Samoa in September 2021. The matches would have been played as Women's Twenty20 Internationals (WT20Is), with the top team progressing t ...

regional group, alongside seven other teams. In 2023, Vanuatu beat

for the first time in their history at the 2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup EAP Qualifier to ultimately qualify for the 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier, where they would also earn a win over

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. On 19 January 2024, Rachel Andrew became the first player from Vanuatu to score a century in

(WT20I), making 105 not out against the

at the Women's T20I Pacific Cup in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand. In the same match,

Selina Solman Selina Solman (born 8 February 1994) is a Vanuatuan cricketer and the current captain of the Vanuatu women's cricket team. She was the first female cricketer from Vanuatu to play grade cricket in Australia. She also played for the East Asia-Pa ...

became the first player from the country to take a WT20I

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Taking ...

with 5/9.

Tournament history

EAP Women's Championship

* 2010: ''did not qualify'' * 2012: 4th place (6 teams) * 2014: 5th place (5 teams)

Pacific Games

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: 4th place (6 teams) *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: Bronze

Current squad

''Updated on 3 May 2024'' This lists all the players who were named in the squad for 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier.

Records and statistics

International Match Summary — Vanuatu Women ''Last updated 20 June 2025''

Twenty20 International

*Highest team total: 177/1 v.

on 19 January 2024 at Lloyd Elsmore Park 1,

. *Highest individual innings: 106 *, Rachel Andrew v.

on 19 January 2024 at Lloyd Elsmore Park 1,

. *Best innings bowling: 5/9,

on 19 January 2024 at Lloyd Elsmore Park 1,

. Most T20I runs for Vanuatu Women Most T20I wickets for Vanuatu Women T20I record versus other nations ''Records complete to WT20I #2378. Last updated 20 June 2025.''

References

{{National sports teams of Vanuatu Women's national cricket teams Cricket, women * Vanuatu in international cricket Women's sport in Vanuatu

History

Tournament history

EAP Women's Championship

Pacific Games

Current squad

Records and statistics

Twenty20 International

See also

References