Thursday, 3 October, saw the commencement of the 2024 Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. The ten competing teams are divided into Group A (Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) and Group B (Bangladesh, England, South Africa, West Indies and Scotland). They will play in a round robin format in the group stages, with the top two in each group progressing to the semi-finals. The final will be held in Dubai on October 20. The tournament was originally meant to be held in Bangladesh, but in August it was moved to the UAE following civil unrest in the proposed host nation.
Debutants Scotland started their campaign in the opening game against Bangladesh, losing by 16 runs. Despite Sarah Bryce’s well-fought 49, Bangladesh’s spin attack proved too much for Scotland in their first ever performance at the tournament. On October 6 they suffered their second defeat to the West Indies in Dubai, scoring a modest total of 99 against another disciplined bowling opposition.
The defending champions Australia will look to retain the title for a seventh time, and for the fourth time in a row. As champions since 2018 and the number one rated team in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings, they looked like the team to beat heading into the tournament. They began their campaign with a convincing six-wicket win against Sri Lanka. England started the tournament off the back of an summer unbeaten at home and a successful pre-tournament warm up camp in Abu Dhabi. Ranked at number two in the ICC world rankings, they’ll be looking to go further than their performance at the tournament last year, where they reached the semi-final and lost to hosts South Africa. They have certainly made a good start, getting revenge on the South Africans on Monday 7 October to claim their second victory of the tournament so far.
Despite a loss to New Zealand in their opening game, cricketing giants India should not be ruled out. With their eyes set on the trophy, they made an important recovery beating neighbours and rivals Pakistan in their second game. They play Sri Lanka before their final blockbuster group game against Australia on October 13.
In case players needed further motivation, the ICC also announced the biggest prize pool to date of $7,958,080 for the tournament, with the winners taking home close to $2.5 million. As we approach the halfway point of the tournament, it’s certainly all to play for.
“2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup champions” by Storm machine is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.