DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – West Indies are one of six teams set to contest the inaugural ICC Women’s Cricket Challenge scheduled for South Africa in October.

The regional squad, which reached as far as the semi-finals of the recent World Twenty20 Championship in the Caribbean, will clash with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Ireland and hosts South Africa in the October 6-16 tournament.

Cricket’s world governing body, the ICC, said yesterday the tournament would comprise a series of One-Day Internationals and Twenty20s designed to give teams ranked between fifth and 10th precious playing experience.

West Indies are currently ranked fifth in ODIs by virtue of their fifth place finish at the Women’s World Cup in Australia last year.

“This tournament is an ideal way for the women’s teams ranked outside of the top four to gain more match experience in both ODI and Twenty20 formats,” said ICC Global Development manager Matthew Kennedy.

“The tournament will also provide a good challenge to all the six competing teams as none of them have yet qualified for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup to be staged in India in 2013.”

The one-day phase of the tournament will be played on a round-robin format but the T20 section has been divided into two zones with West Indies contesting Group A with South Africa and the Netherlands.

All matches will be played in Potchefstroom, a city in South Africa’s North West Province.