ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022

ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022

The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup is in full swing and we are certainly enjoying the nail biting matches. This year the Women’s World Cup is taking place in  beautiful New Zealand with the tournament following the 50-over format of the game i.e the ODI format. The matches are played at different venues namely the University Oval, Basin Reserve, Seddon Park, Eden Park, Bay Oval and Hagley Oval. The cricketing nations playing the world cup are India, Australia, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, West Indies, Pakistan and South Africa.

In frame(L to R): Alyssa Healy, Bismah Maroof, Stefanie Taylor, Heather Knight, Sophie Devine, Mithali Raj, Sune Luus and Nigar Sultana

 The first match of the tournament took place on the 4th of March with the host country, New Zealand, up against the West Indies. The match was a thriller with the West Indies winning the match by just 3 runs. The hosts have lost 4 games of the 6 played and have won the remaining 2. As for their opponent, the West Indies 

have won 3 and lost 3.

The next match was between South Africa and Bangladesh on 5th March which the South African team won by 32 runs. Till now, Bangladesh have played 7 matches out of which they have lost 6 and have won just a single match. South Africa is living its dream run and has won 5 matches and lost 1. 

The third match was the Ashes rivalry i.e Australia vs England. The match was an engaging exchange between the two teams but the match went into the Aussies favour, who won by just a mere 12 runs. The Australian team have won all their 7 matches so far and look strong like never before. The English had a bad start to their World Cup campaign but have now gained momentum after winning 4 matches of the 7 they played.

It was the mother of all battles on the cards next, India vs Pakistan. The match was absolutely splendid for the Indians, as the girls won the match by a mammoth 107 runs. The match was the talk of the town as every Ind vs Pak match is. The Indian cricket team has won 3 matches and has lost four, up until now. The Pakistani cricket team is going through a tough phase in the tournament where they have lost 6 matches out of the 7 played. 

The matches of the World Cup are in total action and we are absolutely loving the gut wrenching matches. There are records being set in almost every match. Jhulan Goswami played her 200th ODI match and she also has the most wickets in total in all world cups. Hayley Matthews of the West Indies has the most wickets in the tournament. Rachel Haynes of Australia has the most runs in the tournament. So many other players have also established records during this tournament. 

The points table of the tournament stands as follows(as of 29-03-2022):

POS	Team	Played	Won	Lost	N/R	Tied	Net RR	Points
1	Australia	7	7	0	0	0	+1.283	14
2	South Africa	7	5	1	1	0	+0.078	11
3	England	7	4	3	0	0	+0.949	8
4	West Indies	7	3	3	1	0	-0.885	7
5	India	7	3	4	0	0	+0.642	6
6	New Zealand	7	3	4	0	0	+0.027	6
7	Bangladesh	7	1	6	0	0	-o.999	2
8	Pakistan	7	1	6	0	0	-1.313	2

https://www.cricketworldcup.com/standings

The Australians are dominating the table with 14 points followed by the South African team with 11 points. England are third in the table with 8 points followed by West Indies with 7 points. Remind you, the first four teams in the points table will be the teams that will qualify for the semi finals after all the league matches are over and as a result Australia, England, West Indies and South Africa have booked their spot in the semifinals.

With the women’s World Cup now going on, we expect that there would be an overall focus on Women’s cricket. This World Cup has had a lot of partners and sponsors like Oppo, Byjus, Emirates, Star Sports, ANZ and many more.

The World Cup has had some enthralling matches and the spectators are enjoying the matches. Women’s cricket needs more support from the spectators and authorities so that even more girls are inspired to take up the sport.

-Rukmini Salodkar

F.Y B.Sc. Economics