For the second time this month, England plays host to a major ICC tournament – with the 11th staging of the Women’s World Cup roaring into life on Saturday, bringing together the top eight teams to do battle for the most important trophy in Women’s ODI cricket.
The month-long tournament of 31 matches will be played out at five county grounds around England, with Bristol, Taunton, Derby and Leicester staging the group stages and semi finals before the final is held at the home of cricket, Lord’s, on Sunday 23rd July. The eight teams will all play each other once in the round-robin group stage. The top four teams then progress to the semi-finals, with the winners of those two games meeting in the final on Sunday 23rd July.
Over the ten previous stagings of the Women’s World Cup, only three teams have won the tournament in its history – Australia claiming six titles, England three and the New Zealanders one, on home soil, in 2000.
Those three teams are the strong favourites again, alongside India, although if the other ICC tournament held in the UK this month has taught us anything it is that favourites can often falter and an outsider can land the prize against all odds!
From an individual player perspective, the following players will be looking to reach personal milestones throughout the tournament:
Ellyse Perry (Australia)
A dual football and cricket international, allrounder and superstar of the women’s game, Perry needs just 101 runs in the tournament to bring up 2000 ODI runs for Australia.
Alex Blackwell (Australia)
The Australian vice-captain has made 133 ODI appearances for her country. If Australia make it all the way to the final as expected, and Blackwell appears in all nine games, she will move ahead of former captain Karen Rolton as Australia’a all-time leading appearance-maker in ODIs.
Tammy Beaumont (England)
England batter Beaumont needs 182 runs to bring up 1000 in the 50-over format for her country.
Natalia Sciver (England)
Another England player looking to notch up 1000 runs for her country is Japan-born all-rounder Sciver, who currently has 837 career ODI runs and will be looking for 163 to make the mark.
Katherine Brunt (England)
The spearhead of England’s attack sits just three wickets behind her teammate Jenny Gunn as the host nation’s all-time leading ODI wicket taker, with 120 wickets to Gunn’s 123. They’ll be spurring each other on to do battle at the top of that tree.
Mithali Raj (India)
The tournament could see history made in the Women’s game, with India’s captain sitting on 5781 ODI runs, 211 behind the current world record run scorer in the 50 over format, England’s former captain Charlotte Edwards. With potentially nine games in which to overhaul Edwards, the chase is very much on.
Another 8 further runs will see Raj become the first woman to pass 6000 One-Day International runs.
Jhulan Goswana (India)
Seam bowler Goswana needs 15 wickets with the ball, and 73 runs with the bat to reach 200 wickets and 1000 runs respectively.
Suzie Bates (New Zealand)
The White Ferns’ captain needs just two more games to notch up 100 for her country.
Amy Satterthwaite (New Zealand)
New Zealand’s vice-captain will have her eye on two personal milestones as the group stage of the Women’s World Cup unfolds.
She currently has 2970 runs in the record books, needing just 30 more to reach 3000. Those runs have come in 95 appearances, so she’ll be celebrating her hundred during her fifth game of the tournament.
Javeira Khan (Pakistan)
Batsman Khan needs just 41 more runs to bring up 2000 in ODIS for Pakistan.
Sana Mir (Pakistan)
Spin bowler and Pakistani captain Sana Mir will reach 100 appearances for her country if she appears in five further games.
Mignon du Preez (South Africa)
The stakes are high for South Africa’s all-time leading run scorer and appearance maker, as she needs just one more game to bring up 100 for the Proteas.
Trisha Chetty (South Africa)
The Proteas’ wicketkeeper-batsman is the world=record holder for catches in women’s ODIs, with 91 grabs to her name. She’ll be looking for nine more to bring up a century.
Coincidentally, Chetty also needs nine appearances to bring up that hundred too – but South Africa will have to make it all the way to the final if she is to achieve that milestone in this tournament.
Shashikala Siriwardene (Sri Lanka)
if all-rounder Siriwardene appears in all seven of Sri Lanka’s round robin stage games, she will notch up 100 appearances for the Islanders.
Chamari Polgampola (Sri Lanka)
Chamari will be looking to hit 31 more runs to move from her current tally of 969 to 1000 for her country.
Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)
One of the likely stars of the Women’s World Cup, the West Indies’ Jamaican captain needs just two games to bring up 100 appearances in ODIs for the Caribbean federation.
She also needs 268 runs to bring up 4000 – which with an average of over 44 is not beyond the realms of possibility by any means.
Deandra Dottin (West Indies)
The Windies’ quick bowler also needs just two more appearance to bring up 100.
With a substantially increased prize money, live coverage and introduction of DRS, World Cup 2017 can prove to be the turning point in women’s game if the competition lives up to its billing