The ICC Women’s World Cup will be one of the best sporting spectacles in this year’s cricket calendar to go along with the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup that is to be held later this year in Australia. The Women’s World Cup starts on the 4th of March and this marquee tournament will continue till the 3rd of April. The 2022 edition of the Women’s World Cup will feature a total of 31 ODI’s.
There are eight teams participating in the competition – England, Australia, South Africa, India, West Indies, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The eight teams will play the group stages in a round-robin format. This means that each team will get to face every other team in the tournament for once. After the group stages, the top 4 teams with highest points will proceed to the semi-finals and eventually the finals.
The hosts of this edition of the World Cup is New Zealand. The matches will be played at Bay Oval (Mount Maunganui), Basin Reserve (Wellington), University Oval (Dunedin), Seddon Park (Hamilton), Eden Park (Auckland) and of course the Hagley Oval in Christchurch where the final will also be played. While it may be a bold call, some pundits are calling New Zealand and even India as the dark horses of the tournament who might just surprise everybody.
In the first game of the tournament, hosts New Zealand are playing against the mighty West Indies. This should be a nail biting affair. England are the defending champions who won the previous edition in 2017. This tournament was supposed to take place in 2021 but it got postponed due to the covid pandemic.
Indian Women will begin their World Cup campaign against Pakistan on 6th of March. Another exciting contest for the Indian and Pakistani fans. Who do you think will win that one?
The prize money for this year’s winning team is $1.32 million. It has doubled since the last edition of the Women’s World Cup in 2017 which England won. It is also very interesting to know that the overall prize money for the whole tournament has also increased by 75%.
Let us look into the world cup squads.
India Women Squad: Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur (vc), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh Thakur, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav.
Standby Players: S. Meghana, Ekta Bisht, Simran Dil Bahadur
Pakistan Women Squad: Bismah Maroof (c), Nida Dar (vc), Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Ghulam Fatima, Javeria Khan, Muneeba Ali, Nahida Khan, Nashra Sandhu, Omaima Sohail, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk)
Travelling reserves: Iram Javed, Najiha Alvi and Tuba Hassan
England Women Squad: Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Freya Davies, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone, Natasha Farrant, Amy Jones, Emma Lamb, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Danielle Wyatt
Travelling reserves: Lauren Bell, Mady Villiers
Australia Women Squad: Meg Lanning (C), Rachael Haynes (VC), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Amanda-Jade Wellington.
Travelling reserves: Heather Graham, Georgia Redmayne
New Zealand Women Squad: Sophie Devine (c), Amy Satterthwaite, Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Hayley Jensen, Fran Jonas, Jess Kerr, Amelia Kerr, Frances Mackay, Rosemary Mair, Katey Martin, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu
Travelling reserves: Molly Penfold
West Indies Women Squad: Stafanie Taylor (Captain), Anisa Mohammed (Vice-Captain), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shemaine Campbelle, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Cherry-Ann Fraser, Chinelle Henry, Kycia Knight, Hayley Matthews, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Shakera Selman and Rashada Williams.
Travelling Reserves: Kaysia Schultz, Mandy Mangru and Jannillea Glasgow
Bangladesh Women Squad: Nigar Sultana (c), Salma Khatun, Rumana Ahmed, Fargana Hoque, Jahanara Alam, Shamima Sultana, Fahima Khatun, Ritu Moni, Murshida Khatun, Nahida Akter, Sharmin Akhter, Lata Mondal, Sobhana Mostary, Fariha Trisna, Suraiya Azmin
Travelling Reserves: Nuzhat Tasnia, Sanjida Akter
South Africa Women Squad: Sune Luus (c), Laura Wolvaardt, Tazmin Brits, Lara Goodall, Mignon du Preez, Marizanne Kapp, Chloe Tryon, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Masabata Klaas, Lizelle Lee, Tumi Sekhukhune, Trisha Chetty (wk)
Traveling reserves: Raisibe Ntozakhe, Nadine de Klerk, Andrie Steyn
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