10 days into the 2022 edition of the ICC Women’s World cup and 10 matches later, we have some fabulous women’s cricket going on.
The Host nation, New Zealand, have not started off particularly well with losing to the West Indies. Sophie Devine scored a century but in my opinion sending in Lea Tahuhu at number 5 when Amy Satterthwaite lost her wicket in the 27th over was a critical mistake. What was needed was a batter that could rotate the strike and take off the pressure from Devine so that she could bat freely. The following two games went to plan for New Zealand, an expected win against Bangladesh and an impressive win against India. All round good batting performance from the top 5 batters and a far better performance from Lea Tahuhu’s bowling figures with an impressive 3/17 from her 10. What must be noted is that she was the fourth bowler utilized when usually she opens the bowling for the White Ferns, a very smart tactical move by Sophie Devine as it paid off.
The defending champion’s England find themselves in a spot of bother at this early stage. The loss against Australia was probably expected even though they got really close with Nat Sciver scoring a well-structured century. A second loss against the West Indies has some worrying features for them. The opening pair of Beaumont and Winfield-Hill are yet to give the English team a decent start and the bowlers have yet to bowl out a team. How will Heather Knight marshal her troops to get a win against South Africa?
The Indian team of Mithali Raj have had varied results. A decent win against Pakistan which will assist them with their NRR if required later on in the tournament, with an all-round bowling performance from the team and especially from Gayakwad with a four-fer. Indian management must be worried about the youngster Shafali Verma, 2 innings’ (Warm -up & WC game) and no runs to speak off. A loss against New Zealand highlighted one or two worrying areas, like England the opening pair is a problem. Who should bat with Smriti, surely by the time the World Cup comes around that paramount question should be settled. Then is Deepti Sharma the answer for the number 3 slot, time will tell. Their third match against the ‘Giant Killers’ turned out to be a slight disappointment because it was so one sided at the end. Mandhana and Kaur both scored impressive centuries and took their team over the 300 mark. Jhulan Goswami also became the leading wicket taker in Women’s World cup history.
The two minow’s, Pakistan and Bangladesh are not expected to win many matches even though they are both hoping for some upsets over the four weeks. Individual performances like Bismah Maroof scoring a well-played 78 and Aliya Riaz scoring 53 against Australia is positive for their team.
Bangladesh held their own against the Proteas in their opening match as South Africa only managed to score 207. The Pakistani openers scored 69 before the first wicket fell and then got bowled out for 175. Both these teams will look to beat each other so that they can avoid the bottom of the log come the end of the World cup.
The Momentum Proteas almost had a catastrophe against Bangladesh, scoring a very dismal 207 runs. Two very well played cameo’s from Kapp and Tryon in the middle spurred on with a high strike rate pushed the total up over the 200 mark. Ayabonga Khaka did what she does best, an impressive bowling performance of 3/27 after 10 halted the Bangladesh team’s chase. The Pakistan game was a little closer than expected. It was Shabnim Ismail who was the difference, in the 2017 group stage it was Ismail with the bat who was the difference in that defeat for Pakistan (funny story- I was watching that game in my living room and after witnessing the ladies beat Pakistan I got on a plane a week later and flew to England to support the Proteas. I was convinced we would be at Lord’s. I was almost right.) In New Zealand, 2022 it was Shabnim with the ball, who defended 10 runs with 6 balls. A superb caught and bowled and a run out later by Chetty was all that was needed to win the match in the last over.
Australia are the obvious favorites, as they are in any tournament or series. The first team to score over 300 in an innings in this World Cup. A close encounter with England, Haynes scoring the biggest century so far with an impressive 130 from 131 and a good bowling performance from Alana King in her first World cup match. When Jess Jonasson was given the ball to bowl the last over she had only bowled two previous overs in the match, the 5th and 11th. Genius move by Lanning or a gamble, whichever one it was, it paid off, Australia won. I do however have a tiny observation when they played Pakistan, they did not bowl them out which should have been ‘a walk in the park’ for them but knowing how Australia play they will definitely look to improve on that aspect.
So there are a couple of ‘biggy’s’ coming this week. New Zealand will look to outplay Australia and England will want to win against South Africa so that they can at least get some points on the board.
Till next time, keep watching!
Images from Cricket South Africa
