Battling for world cricket glory
Find out about the actionpacked contest in New Zealand.
On 4 March, the Women’s Cricket World Cup begins in New Zealand. The international tournament is contested by eight countries and usually takes place every four years. The four-week competition was meant to happen in 2021 but was delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. As England prepare to defend their title, here is everything you need to know about the tournament.
Who will be taking part?
New Zealand qualified automatically because the competition is being played in their country. Australia, England, India and South Africa were selected based on results in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Championship, which was a competition played from 2017 to 2020. The final three places went to Bangladesh, Pakistan and West Indies, who qualified because of their ICC rankings. Usually they would have played qualifying matches but these had to be called off because of the pandemic. England,
New Zealand and Australia have appeared in all 11 previous editions of the Women’s Cricket World Cup.
What are the rules?
This tournament will be played using One Day International (ODI) rules. In ODI cricket, each team bats for 50 “overs”. An over is when one bowler bowls the ball six times at the batters. The batters score “runs” (points) by hitting the ball and running between the two wickets as many times as they can before the fielders get the ball back to one of the wickets. They can also score by hitting the ball to the boundary (four runs) or making the ball cross the boundary without touching the ground (six runs). The team with the most runs after both teams have batted is the winner.
What happens at the Cricket World Cup?
The first Women’s Cricket World Cup was in England in 1973, when seven teams took part and England won the trophy. England were also champions in 1993, 2009 and 2017. Their victory in 2017 included a thrilling win over India in the final, with bowler Anya Shrubsole taking six wickets. That’s a record in both women’s and men’s Cricket World Cup finals. Australia have won the event more times than any other nation. They have won six, including three in a row in 1978, 1982 and 1988. New Zealand are the only other country to become Women’s Cricket World Cup champions, lifting the trophy when they hosted the competition in 2000. At this year’s Women’s Cricket World Cup, each country plays each other once in a league format. After all those games, the top four teams in the league will go on to the semi-finals. The winner in each of the two semi-finals will reach the final on 3 April.
Matches to look out for
The action starts with New Zealand playing the West Indies on 4 March. The following day, Australia take on England. These two are big rivals who played each other in the Ashes competition this winter and Australia won. Pakistan against India, on 6 March, is another huge match between two rival nations that love cricket. With a total of 31 games over 31 days, including the final at Hagley Oval in Christchurch, the Women’s Cricket World Cup will be one of the sporting highlights of the year. Matches are live on Sky Sports and BBC radio, and highlights will be shown on the BBC Sport website and app.