FTX By The Numbers: A quirky look at the history of the Women's World Cup

The 12th edition of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup and the third one, after 1982 and 2000, to be held in New Zealand will be played from March 4 to April 3 in six different cities – Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Tauranga and Wellington.

Eight teams – Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies – will lock horns in a 31-match tournament with the final in Christchurch on April 3.

The most successful teams

Australia are the most successful team in the tournament history lifting the trophy on six occasions (1978, 1982, 1988, 1997, 2005 and 2013) followed by defending champions England, who have won the World Cup on four occasions (1973, 1993, 2009 and the most recent one in 2017).

New Zealand, the winners of the 2000 edition, are the third team to have claimed the silverware.

While Australia and England have dominated the tournament historically, India were the runners up in two of the recent four tournaments – they lost the final to Australia in Centurion in 2005 and to England at Lord’s in 2017. In the final at Lord’s, India were 191-3 chasing 229 before England staged a comeback to win the game by nine runs.

South Africa haven’t gone past the semi-final stage at the World Cup, but based on their current form can be a threat to many successful teams. They have won 13 out of their last 16 ODIs with two of the three defeats coming in Super Overs.

The most appearances

Australia, England and New Zealand are the only three teams to never miss a Women’s Cricket World Cup and will be making their 12th appearance in the 2022 tournament.

India, who will be featuring the World Cup for the tenth time, have missed two tournaments – the inaugural edition in England in 1973 and the fourth edition in Australia in 1988.

South Africa and West Indies will be playing their seventh Cricket World Cup whereas Pakistan have made it to the tournament for the fifth time.

It is pertinent to mention here that even though West Indies made their tournament debut only in 1993, the two Caribbean countries Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago featured in the first ever tournament in 1973.

For the first time in 25 years (or since the tournament in 1997), there will be a debutant team in the World Cup in the form of Bangladesh. They, along with Pakistan and West Indies, qualified for this World Cup based on their ODI Rankings after the World Cup Qualifier in Harare in November last year was called off due to the travel restrictions following the breakout of Omicron, a new Covid variant.

The most prolific players

The 2000 World Cup winner and New Zealand legend Debbie Hockley is the most prolific batter in the tournament history with 1501 runs in 45 matches at an average of 42.88. She also hit two centuries, both in the 1997 tournament in India.

India captain Mithali Raj has 1139 runs in the World Cup, the fifth most by anyone. She needs 363 runs to break Hockley’s 22-year long record.

Lyn Fullston, the left-arm spinner and a key figure behind Australia’s title wins in 1982 and 1988, is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 39 scalps at an impressive average of 11.94.

Fullston is the holder of the record since 1988. However, with India seamer Jhulan Goswami coming in the tournament on the back of 36 World Cup wickets, there is a strong possibility that there will be a new leading wicket-taker in Women’s Cricket World Cups.

Most runs in World Cup

Most wickets in World Cup

The strongest team

Australia will be the most formidable team at this Cricket World Cup. Not only have they won the tournament on six occasions, they have lost only two out of 31 ODIs since the end of the World Cup in 2017.

Their win percentage (93.94) is by far the highest for any team in ODIs since the last tournament. South Africa, with 28 wins in 41 completed ODIs, have the second highest win percentage (68.29).

Another factor that goes in South Africa’s favour is the combined experience of their 15-member ODI squad for this tournament is 1042 matches, the highest for any team followed by West Indies (930) and India (850).

The unwanted streak

Pakistan have won only two out of 23 matches in Women’s Cricket World Cups. Both victories came in the 2009 tournament – against Sri Lanka in Canberra and against West Indies in Sydney.

Since then, they have lost 14 matches in a row, the biggest losing streak for any team in the tournament history.

International XI team that played in the 1982 event in New Zealand has the second biggest losing streak. They lost each of their 12 games in the World Cup in 1982.

Pakistan will be looking to put an end to their 14-game losing streak and can draw motivation from their performance in the warm-up games. They beat the hosts New Zealand by four wickets in Lincoln on Sunday.

Players born in non-Test playing nations

Four cricketers featuring in this Cricket World Cup were born in unconventional cricket places.

Australia captain Meg Lanning, who will be playing in her third World Cup, was born in Singapore whereas England all-rounder Nat Sciver was born in Tokyo, Japan and took up cricket while growing up in the Netherlands.

Another England player born in an unfamiliar cricketing place is Tash Farrant. The left-arm seamer was born in Athens, the capital city of Greece. She was raised in Italy and Singapore.

Pakistan star all-rounder Nida Dar was born in a cricketing family in Saudi Arabia’s city of Riyadh. Her father Rashid Hassan played eight first-class matches in the late 80s and the early 90s.