Women's World Cup 2017

Chances of Success Rating : 5.8/10 (5th) Although women's cricket held quite a strong foothold in South Africa during the 1960s and 70s, it was not until well after the end of the sporting boycott in the 1990s that South Africa competed in their first World Cup - in India in 1997. Four years later, in 2000 (yes... the 2001 World Cup was actually held in December 2000 in New Zealand) they reached the semi-finals after a group-stage victory over England; but it proved to be something of a false-dawn, and the next three tournaments all ended in early baths for the South Africans. The four years since their 6th-placed performance in 2013 have been transformational however, as a new sponsorship deal with financial services giant Momentum has allowed them to build a core professional setup which has propelled them into an expanded top tier of the women's game - no longer minnows, but genuinely competitive with all the top sides, recording ODI victories against all but Austr...

Chances of Success Rating : 5.2/10 (6th) On paper, West Indies should have a good shot at winning this World Cup. Their recent rise to the top of world cricket has been meteoric. They were finalists in the 2013 tournament - beating eventual champions Australia along the way - and last year they went one better and danced away with the World Twenty20 crown. But that is on paper. The stark reality is that another tournament triumph is unlikely for this West Indies team. Since the 2013 World Cup, they’ve suffered series whitewashes against England, New Zealand, Australia, and most recently India in November last year. They’ve also lost matches to Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Of course this is being a bit selective - they’ve had some successes, too - but no team can afford to slip up against the two bottom-ranked teams in a round robin tournament like this one. As a side, recent results would suggest that West Indies lack the consistency needed to win a 50-over World Cup. They were h...

Chances of Success Rating : 2.8/10 (7th) Pakistan finished seventh in the ICC Women’s Championship table, just above Sri Lanka, winning just four of the 18  matches they played. Due to political issues their three match series against India was never played. They beat Sri Lanka 3-0, and managed to win one game against South Africa. They managed to secure the final place in the WWC17 taking fourth spot in the World Cup Qualifier tournament, but lost there to Sri Lanka in the Super 6s, before convincingly defeating Ireland to claim their spot at the tournament. At the same time as they named their squad for WWC17 they also announced a new coach, Sabih Azhar. He is the fourth Head Coach the team have had in the past year. Not an ideal situation for any team, and suggesting one that is in a bit of mess off the pitch, if not on. The team were last in England in the summer of 2016, when England made ODI scores of 378 and 366 against them, and chased down 165 comfortably ...

Chances of Success Rating : 2.4/10 (8th) Cast your mind back to February 2013 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Sri Lanka were playing England in the second match in Group A of the Women’s World Cup. England, without Sarah Taylor and Anya Shrubsole, had stumbled their way to 238, after having been rocking at 29/3. But 238 looked like it was enough against a team that had never beaten any of the Big Four (Australia, England, New Zealand or India). Trouble is nobody told the Sri Lankans! England would have been worried when Yasoda Mendis and Chamari Atapattu put on over 100 for the first wicket, but a clatter of wickets seemed to have England back in control, until stocky fast bowler Eshani Koushalya decided that, with partners disappearing from the other end, the only way forward was attack. With 16 off the 48th over from Jenny Gunn Sri Lanka were nearly home, needing just 13 to win, but only four came from the 49th over bowled by Danni Hazell. Nine needed off the l...

Over the last few days all the contributors* to this WWC17 Blog have had their thinking caps on. We asked each of them to rate each team's chances of success here at WWC17 with a mark out of 10, with 10 meaning they were sure they would win, and 1 meaning they had no hope. All the marks were then combined to give a WWC17 Blog Chances of Success rating. This is how the final table looks... Over the next eight days we will have an in-depth look at each of the teams taking part in this tournament, starting with lowest ranked, Sri Lanka, tomorrow, and gradually working up the table. Here are the links to the individual analysis of each team's chances Sri Lanka Pakistan West Indies South Africa India England New Zealand Australia * Martin Davies, Syd Egan, Raf Nicholson, Snehal Pradhan, Don Miles

Just three months into his tenure as England’s new Head Coach Mark Robinson led England into a World Cup. It was the T20 World Cup in India. England were under-prepared and Robinson was just finding his feet. England made it to the semi-final, but imploded against the old enemy, Australia, falling five runs short chasing just 132. Post-match, with his captain, Charlotte Edwards, sitting next to him Robinson blamed the squad’s fitness. Five weeks later Charlotte Edward’s glittering England career had ended. Robinson had dispensed with his captain and, some would say, his best batsman. It was time for England to start again… Fast forward to Lord’s in May 2017 and Robinson finds himself just six weeks away from another World Cup. This time the 50 Over World Cup on home soil, with the tantalizing prospect of a final on the hallowed turf outside the window, in front of 20,000 people. But can England win it? “We’re in a really good place, but until you play against someone else in a r...

I have been fortunate enough to have been an avid spectator at no less then three World Cups. At the first in 1993 I watched only two games - England v Australia, and the Final - England v New Zealand at Lord’s. They were the first two games of women’s cricket of any type that I had seen but I soon became hooked. In later years followed England in every game during in and around Pretoria, South Africa, in 2005, and in 2009 in and around Sydney, Australia. Here are a few of the images I snapped at those events. Some I like because of the content of the picture - perhaps it shows a player at her best - or maybe a player displays a more personal moment with a team mate. Others remind me of events at that tournament even if that event is not shown in the shot. It’s surprising what sticks in your mind all these years later.  So, reminiscing, here we go with 2005... Jane Smit  makes a fine stop. A player I have admired both for her skill and her longevity. I first saw h...

The World Cup...in England...in June. Surely the first name on your team list has to be a decent pace bowler? Make the most of those English conditions! And by pace I mean someone who can get the ball through in excess of 70mph (112kph), not a medium-paced dobber. Someone who can get the batsmen hopping around a bit, and fishing around outside their offstump, or avoiding having their toes crushed by an inswinging yorker. Perhaps for obvious reasons there are not too many in women's cricket, but this World Cup could be all about the few that we have got at the moment. Katherine Brunt © Don Miles Undoubted leader of the pack is England's Katherine Brunt . She seems to have been running in and bowling quickly and angrily at people for as long as I can remember. In fact she debuted for England back in 2004, and has the small matter of 161 games for England under her belt over the last 13 years. She is the archetypal pace bowler. Should you dare to cream her for four throu...

There have been 10 previous World Cups: 1. ENGLAND 1973 Enid Bakewell Format: A round robin, with each team playing every other team once. The “final” was simply the last match of the round robin (although as it turned out, the overall result did hinge on the outcome of the last game, between England and Australia). Teams: England, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Young England and an International XI (made up of players from all competing nations). “Finalists”: England and Australia Winner: England ( who beat Australia by 92 runs ) Notable Events:  Jack Hayward acted as the tournament sponsor, paying £40,000 to get all the teams to England. The tournament was opened by Roger Bannister. England’s Enid Bakewell hit a century in the final. 1500 people attended the final at Edgbaston. 2. INDIA 1978 Format: A round robin (as there were only 4 teams, this meant a total of 6 matches - quite a short tournament!) Te...

Qualification for the 2017 World Cup was decided via the ICC Women's Championship - a round-robin series between the world's top eight ranked sides, played over the two-and-a-half years preceding the tournament. Each team played three ODIs against every other team, either at home or away, with the top four sides qualifying directly for the World Cup, and the bottom four going into a qualifying tournament with the lower-ranked sides. Australia, England, New Zealand and the West Indies qualified directly; whilst India, South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka qualified via the qualifying tournament. Batting Most Runs Meg Lanning (Aus) - 1,232 Ellyse Perry (Aus) - 985 Suzie Bates (NZ) - 978 Meg Lanning © Don Miles FUN FACT: Meg Lanning once appeared in an episode of the soap opera Neighbours, alongside a baby wombat called Warnie! Most Sixes Lizelle Lee (SA) - 17 Nat Sciver (Eng) - 11 Meg Lanning & Diandra  Dottin (WI) - 9 FUN FACT: A Lizelle Le...

As published on ' Firstpost ' Imagine the eight best sprinters in the world lining up for the 100 m final of the Olympics. At stake is the biggest prize in the sport, boiling down to this singular competition; to earn the title of Champion of the world for the next four years. Now imagine that some contestants get a one second head start. Picture the looks on the faces of those who are left behind. That is exactly what the Indian women’s team should be feeling like leading into the ICC Women’s World Cup in England in June 2017. Jhulan Goswami will be central to India's hopes in the World Cup (c) Don Miles India’s biggest competitors are going into the tournament with a massive head start. For a number of years they have had professional contracts of various shapes and sizes, while India have been the last to jump onto the contract bandwagon. Hosts England were one of the first teams to introduce a semblance of professionalism to their women’s team, when in 2...