Australia confirm place in Women’s WC

LONDON: With their 3-0 sweep of West Indies, Australia have assured themselves of a top four spot in the ICC Women’s Championship, thus confirming their place in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand.

The top four teams on the Championship table, along with hosts New Zealand, get automatic qualification for the World Cup. The bottom three sides will feature in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier, where they will be joined by Bangladesh and Ireland, as well as the winners of the Africa, Americas, Asia, East Asia Pacific and Europe regional qualifiers, to decide three remaining competitors for the main tournament.

Australia, who had won the first edition of the IWC, are comfortably on top in its second edition. They have lost just one match in 15 games, to sit at No 1 with an emphatic 28 points. Having swept India, Pakistan, New Zealand and West Indies, their only loss has come against England, back in 2017 in the first round of matches.

England are second, on 24 points, but have played three matches more. India and South Africa are joint on 16 points after 15 matches each, and can only get to a maximum of 28 if they win all their remaining games. Pakistan, who have 15, can get to a maximum of 27.

This assures Australia of a top-four finish, even in the unlikely event of them winning no more matches.

West Indies and Sri Lanka make up the bottom two places on the table. Sri Lanka, who have just one win in 15 games, are almost certain to be in the Qualifier. West Indies, who were automatic qualifiers last time around, have struggled in One-Day cricket in recent years, having 12 losses in 18 games, with one no result.

Australia suffered a shock loss in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2017 semi-final, blown away by a master-class from India all-rounder Harmanpreet Kaur. They have dominated world cricket since then, going from strength to strength and smashing records along the way.

They are the reigning T20 champions and will look to defend their title at home in March 2020, before turning their focus to the 50-over tournament, where they will want to add to their six trophies.