Having made its international debut the previous year, against Fiji, Vanuatu first participated in an international tournament at the 2012 ICC East Asia-Pacific 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). Vanuatu's next major event was the women's tournament at the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
In April 2018, the ICC granted full Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Vanuatu women and any ICC member since 1 July 2018 have the full WT20I status.[4]
History
"Traditional cricket", similar to the kilikiti played in Samoa, has long been popular amongst Ni-Vanuatu 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 ICC East Asia-Pacific development programme.[5] Vanuatu made its international debut in April 2011, hosting a tri-series against Fiji and a team from the North Coast region of the Australian state of New South Wales.[6][7] In May 2012, the country hosted the 2012 East Asia-Pacific Women's Championship.[8] The tournament was played using the Twenty20 format, with the winner progressing to the 2013 World Twenty20 Qualifier in Ireland.[9] Vanuatu joined the three teams from the previous 2010 tournament – Japan, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa – as well as the Cook Islands and Fiji.[10] 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.[11]
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).[12] Their only win in the round-robin was by eight runs against the Cook Islands,[13] but they were unable to repeat that in the fifth-place playoff, losing by six wickets.[14] In April 2015, the New Caledonian national women's team toured Vanuatu, playing six matches against Vanuatu in Port Vila. The tour was part of both sides' preparation for the women's tournament at the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.[15] Vanuatu also played against a mixed men and women's side from the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) in the lead-up to the games.[16]
