Women's World T20 fixture released

Australia will begin their ICC Women's World T20 campaign with a showdown against Pakistan as part of a huge triple-header at Guyana's Providence Stadium on November 9.

View the full fixture HERE

The International Cricket Council revealed the schedule for the 10-team 2018 tournament - the first time a standalone Women's World T20 has been held - on Monday, with Australia placed in a group alongside New Zealand and India, who to be Meg Lanning's team's toughest competition for semi-finals berths, as well as Pakistan and a yet-to-be-determined qualifier.

In exciting news for fans around the world, all 23 matches will be broadcast, while the Decision Review System will be used at an ICC World T20 event for the first time. The use of the DRS in T20Is was introduced last year.

All four of Australia's group matches will be played in Guyana, while the other group – made up of England, West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka and another qualifier – will play their round matches in St Lucia at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.

The tournament begins on November 9 with a clash between India and New Zealand, before Australia are in action later the same day. West Indies - in their sole appearance outside St Lucia - will round out the Guyana triple-header when they meet a qualifier under lights.

The semi-finals will both be played on November 22 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, ahead of the final at the same venue on November 24.

Australia, aiming to win a fourth World T20 title after losing the 2016 decider to the Windies at Eden Gardens in 2016, are playing in the Caribbean for the first time since their successful 2010 World T20 campaign, when they overcome New Zealand in a thrilling final in Barbados.

While the Caribbean holds fond memories for the Southern Stars, they have never played in Guyana.

Of the current contracted players' list, Ellyse Perry, Elyse Villani, Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes were part of that winning 2010 squad.

For Lanning, who has never played in the Caribbean, the tournament is a chance to tick a big item off her cricket bucket list.

Image Id: 0682C49364A24B5494BD7863FC7B358E Image Caption: Australia celebrate in Barbados in 2010 // Getty

"It's a place I've never been to and I've always wanted to tour there and play," Lanning said.

"It's an exciting opportunity. The conditions are generally slower an lower there so we'll have to prepare for that, but they love their cricket over there and from what I've seen there're always really good tournaments."

The No.1 ranked Australians will spend the winter in a series of high performance camps at Brisbane's Bupa National Cricket Centre to prepare for the tournament, while they also host New Zealand in three T20Is – in Sydney on September 29, Brisbane on October 1 and Canberra on October 5 – and play an away tour against Pakistan ahead of the World T20.

Lanning's team hardly need any extra incentive to add an item to their trophy cabinet, but in the backs of their minds is the close gap between the 2018 tournament and the 2020 edition of the World T20, to be played in Australia in February and March of that year.

With the ICC and Cricket Australia setting a lofty goal of filling the MCG for the final of that tournament on March 8, 2020, Lanning wants her team to hit their straps in the 20-over game as soon as possible.

"I'm really looking forward to this November, it's our next big tournament," Lanning said. "We've got a good chance now (over the winter) to try and nail down our T20 game plan and focus.

"We came off a really good series in India where we felt like we made some good strides forward. 

"The group is always looking forward to World Cups and this time is no different.

"We're very hungry to become world champions again, we know it's a very even competition and you need to be consistent and brave.

"We're in a very good space to go down that path and when the time comes we'll play really good cricket."

For Healy, the Caribbean brings fond memories of that triumphant 2010 tournament.

"It was one of the best tours I’ve ever been on," Healy told cricket.com.au.

"I’m looking forward to the back end of the year and to hopefully being part of that tour.

"It's somewhere as a female squad we don’t get to tour too much, so hopefully this is the start of something.

"The West Indies team has been pretty good in the women’s game for a while now, so hopefully it's somewhere we can tour more often."

The finalists of the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier in the Netherlands from July 7-14 July will complete the line-up of the November tournament, with Bangladesh, Ireland, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates playing off for the two remaining spots.

Australia's World T20 schedule

November 9 v Pakistan, Guyana, 4pm local 

November 11 v Qualifier, Guyana, 4pm local

November 13 v New Zealand, Guyana, 8pm local 

November 17 v India, Guyana, 11am local