The ICC Women’s World Cup will step into its 13th edition with India and Sri Lanka taking on each other. The tournament has had one team dominating through its 12 editions, winning seven of them. Apart from Australia, only two other teams have laid their hands on the trophy. Will there be a fourth?
It’s not often that a Cricket World Cup seems like a foregone conclusion, given there are multiple teams, set to go through the rigour of playing 7-8 games each, within a limited time-frame, against the best of the best but the ICC Women’s World Cup has been an anomaly in this case, with Australia dominating through. Having won seven out of 12 World Cup editions, Australia have established themselves as the undisputed trendsetters of the game and as the 13th edition begins, the question arises, will any other team be able to beat this Australian side?
Out of the 10 finals, Australia and England have played each other thrice, with the former winning on all three occasions, including the last one in 2022 in Christchurch. Interestingly, England too have played the finals six times out of 10 and the three times they have won, they didn’t face Australia in the summit clash. So tip for any other team to win the World Cup? Don’t let Australia get to the final…
But New Zealand would disagree! The White Ferns are the only other side to have won the Women’s World Cup, when they managed to prevail in a low-scoring thriller against their trans-Tasman rivals, Australia. Australia have seven titles, while England have won four, including the maiden one in 1973 when there was no concept of knockouts, while New Zealand managed to halt the juggernaut by just four runs 25 years ago.
Will there be a fourth team to lay their hands on the silverware this time around? It’s difficult to predict, given that all eight teams have their strengths and flaws equally and no one seems like an outright winner, maybe apart from Australia, as mentioned earlier, given the depth in their squad.
In their home conditions, India are expected to put up a decent fight. South Africa are always the dark horses and given how they have performed in the last two ICC tournaments, they look set for another knockout finish. England’s ODI team is in transition as far as their leadership is concerned and the four-time champions have been inconsistent coming into the tournament. But will Charlotte Edwards’ side get back to its best when it matters the most?
Then there’s New Zealand, who, out of nowhere, went on to win the T20 World Cup last year. But the 50-over tournament is a different gravy. It will test their quality and depth and if the likes of Georgia Plimmer, Eden Carson and Izzy Gaze can stand up to the challenge in crunch moments? Exciting times ahead!