Captains reflect on IWC and plan way towards ICC Women’s World Cup 2017
Meg Lanning: “We’ve played against a lot of different sides, which has meant that we have had to adapt to different conditions and different types of cricket”
Heather Knight: “To get the opportunity to play a competitive series, with proper context, against seven different nations in a two-year window has been brilliant”
· Suzie Bates: “We’ve been competing really well and we beat England and Australia in the IWC championship, so there have been a whole lot of positives”
· Stafanie Taylor: “ Looking ahead to the World Cup, we would really like to get in a few matches against a couple of other teams and preferably in England”
Video interviews of Lanning, Knight and Bates availableherefor free download and editorial use
Team captains were effusive in their praise for the ICC Women’s Championship even as they plotted their way towards next year’s ICC Women’s World Cup to be held in England and Wales from 26 June to 23 July.
World champion Australia was a comfortable winner of the eight-team competition that provided a chance for four teams to qualify directly for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017. Australia finished with 36 points on thepoints table with England (29), New Zealand (26) and the West Indies (22) the other teams to qualify.
The four bottom-placed teams of the ICC Women’s Championship – India, South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, will get another chance to qualify when they compete with six other teams in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 7 to 21 February.
Bangladesh, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand and Zimbabwe will be the other teams playing in the Qualifier, with the top four advancing to the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.
Australia captain Meg Lanning:
“It’s (IWC) been a great initiative, we have played against a lot of different sides which has meant that we have had to adapt to different conditions and different types of cricket. It’s really nice to have finished on top, which has come after a lot of hard work. It’s good that we had to challenge ourselves in different conditions.
“We don’t have a lot of one-day games to play, so every chance we get, it’s really important that we nail down the type of cricket we want to play, and I think we have been doing that very well so far. We’re looking forward to playing throughout our domestic season and we have a New Zealand series as well after that, and then sort of preparing from there. We are looking forward to that and a lot of cricket is coming up.
“I think our top order batting has been really good, it has made the majority of runs, which is what you are after. I think our spinners have done an excellent job with the ball as well. They’ve come in the middle overs and really sort of tied things down and have taken wickets too. Overall, our consistency has been pretty good and we are sort of looking for that perfect game and really trying to nail all three facets of the game. There are still areas to improve heading into a World Cup and hopefully by the time it comes around, we will be ready.”
England captain Heather Knight:
“The ICC Women’s Championship has gone really well – it has been a great addition by the ICC. To get the opportunity to play a competitive series, with proper context, against seven different nations in a two year window has been brilliant. It will undoubtedly contribute to the development of the global women’s game, especially for the likes of Sri Lanka and Pakistan, who previously wouldn’t have got the chance to play as regularly as they do now through this championship.
“Every international game of cricket that you play for your country is of course important, but to have the additional aspect of qualification points for the ICC Women’s World Cup being up for grabs, and an overall competition table, has given the ICC Women’s Championship matches an extra edge over the last couple of years.
“We are evolving all the time, and the last six months in particular have been a really exciting time for us, and certainly for me, taking on the captaincy. Qualifying for the ICC Women’s World Cup (to be played) on home soil was a very proud moment for us.
“We’ve had a really busy year, so we will have a little bit of time away now, with a few of the girls heading off to play in the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia. After that we will look to head overseas for a warm weather training camp ahead of the start of the English season, and from then it will all be about making sure we are ready for the World Cup starting at the end of June. We really do have the best fans and best supporters of women’s cricket in the world, so we are all hugely excited to play in front of them on home soil next summer.”
New Zealand captain Suzie Bates:
“Although it would have been enjoyable to play in a qualifying tournament, it’s nice to have our flights booked for England and it also shows that we’ve been competing really well. We beat England and Australia in the IWC, so there have been a whole lot of positives.
“We had seven ODIs in South Africa and five here, so we have had 12 one-dayers back to back, which is good for the group. There are some new challenges for some of the players. We have our domestic competition starting and that is always busy with three games in three days. In a few days, six or seven players will take part in the Big Bash. It’s brilliant for people to go over to international competitions and get more cricket and be coached by different coaches.
“And they will come together after the domestic season for a series against Australia, which you couldn’t have asked for a better lead in to the World Cup, the current World champions. We get three ODIs and three T20s and that will start, I guess, our training phase for the World Cup.”
West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor:
“I think the IWC was just what women’s cricket needed. For a long time, the lower-ranked teams rarely met teams like Australia and England for a series and that obviously affected their development. With the structure of the IWC though, where everyone plays everyone, it gives all the teams and individual players the opportunity to develop equally, playing against the better teams. It has forced us and everybody else to raise their game and has improved the standard of women’s cricket in general over the past two years.
“Looking ahead to the World Cup, we would really like to get in a few matches against a couple of other teams and preferably in England, where we will be playing the World Cup. We are also hoping we can spend some time together as a unit. I believe in our team and I believe each of our players has what it takes to take a game away from any opponent, so it’s just about getting them to believe in themselves and their abilities, getting everyone on the same page and clicking when the time is right.
“The world is well aware about the capability of our batting is, and I believe in our players to perform on any given day, but we remain a lot less consistent than we would like. All the teams are steadily improving under the IWC format, so we need to have more team performances.”
South Africa captain Dane van Niekerk
“The IWC is such a great initiative. Being able to play against all the countries in the world has given us the opportunity to grow and develop our game immensely. We've had so many great achievements. We've beaten all the sub-continent teams in the sub-continent. We've beaten England for the first time in an ODI as well as New Zealand. We have, in my opinion, the best preparation so far.
“We've played against New Zealand and now against Australia. We have a tour versus Bangladesh in Bangladesh early next year which is also great preparation. We are very fortunate to be able to play so much cricket.
“We know we have a very strong bowling line up. The only thing we need to work on from a batting perspective is to be more consistent and putting big scores on the board.”
India captain Mithali Raj
“We need to work more on our fielding department. We have to get to more runs to give bowlers enough chance to take wickets. I guess we have a very good bowling attack, we need to be piling up huge scores. The BCCI has given us a fielding coach so that the team works exclusively on the fielding department in some sessions.
“In the T20 format, batsmen and bowlers have pre-determined thoughts of how to play certain shots or certain deliveries but in the one day format you have time to build your innings, you have time as a bowler to take your wickets, purchase your wickets.”
Pakistan captain Sana Mir:
“The IWC provided us with an opportunity to play the top teams outside the big events like the World Cups. This was the first time we played a bilateral series with these teams and it has surely helped us to develop faster and gave us more confidence.
“The team played some brilliant cricket in Australia and came close to earning a win against them. The series white wash against Sri Lanka was a good achievement.
“We would like to go to Sri Lanka before the qualifiers and play some cricket there. Before the World Cup it would be great to get a couple of ODI series against tougher opposition.
The batting is consistently improving. We need to work harder on our power play bowling and over all fielding.”
