Less than two months remaining for the most awaited ICC Women’s World Cup 2017. Here’s a look at the past World Cup performances of the 8 teams that have qualified for this year.
INDIA
India made its One Day International debut in 1978 World Cup which it hosted. Hosted in India for the first time, Led by Diana Edulji, India had a disappointing run, with 0/3 wins. India finished fourth in the 1982 world cup with Shubhangi Kulkarni and Sharma Chakraborty being the 3rd and 4th highest wicket-takers. During the 1997 World Cup, India got 3/5 wins with 1 loss and 1 tie. Where Sangitla Dabir had the best economy rate (1.5) and Purnima Chaudhary had the best bowling figures, with a 5 wicket haul for 21 runs. In the 1993 world cup, Sandhya Agrawal was the 4th highest run scorer (229) and skipper Diana Edulji was the 4th highest wicket-taker (14). India in the 2000 Women’s World Cup defeated Sri Lanka by a huge margin of 141 runs but got defeated in the Semi Finals by New Zealand by 9 wickets.
The 2005 World Cup was the best yet as India finished 2nd on the leader board and India won 5/7 matches. Soon the ICC announced its World Cup XI which consisted of Indian batswoman Mithali Raj, Amita Sharma and Priyanka Roy. Moving on to the last world cup played in 2013, was hosted by India. Led by Mithali Raj India finished 7th with 2/4 wins.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian Women’s team is by the most impressive team in the World cup, currently captained by Meg Lanning and as of 20 October 2015 they are ranked first in all formats of Women’s International Cricket. Australia first appeared in the 50 over format world cup in 1973 where they finished second, where Jackie Potter was the 4th highest run scorer and Tina Macpherson was ranked number 4 in the best bowling averages. Australia remained Champions for the next three World Cups. Australia’s first world cup win was the 1978 world cup, where Australia remained unbeaten in the whole tournament, skipper Margaret Jennings was the highest run scorer (127) and Sharon Hill was the highest wicket-taker (7).
Australia in the next world cup proved that the last world cup win wasn’t just luck and went on to win the 1982 World Cup as well, the squad was led by Sharon Tredrea. Batswoman Jill Kennarewas the 4th highest run scorer (351) and left arm Orthodox Lynn Fullston was the highest wicket-taker(23). Australia continued their winning streak in the 1988 World Cup at home. Their squad was led by Lyn Larsen. Batswoman Lindsay Reelerwas the highest run scorer (448) and Lyn Fulston was the highest wicket-taker (16) with an average of 11.87. The Australian winning streak ended when the Aussies finished 3rd in the 1993 World Cup, the team was led by Lyn Larsen then. Australia again claimed the title in the 1997, 2005 and 2013 World cup. Megan Schmitt was the highest wicket-taker with 15 wickets to her name.
NEW ZEALAND
Currently led by Suzie Bates, New Zealand is ranked 3rd in the ICC international ranking. The team has made the final of the World Cup on four occasions winning in 2000 and finishing 2nd in 1993, 1997 and 2009. New Zealand finished 3rd in the 1973 World cup with 3/6 wins. They again finished 3rd in the 1978 World Cup with 1/3 wins. Barbara Bevege was the second highest run scorer (126) and Pat Carrick was the 3rd highest wicket-taker (6) with an average of 17.66. They finished 3rd again in the 1982 world cup, where Barbara Bevege was the 3th highest run scorer(320) and Jackie Lord was the 2nd highest wicket-taker (22) with an average of 12.40. New Zealand finished 3rd for the fourth time in a row in the 1988 world cup. Where Debbie Hockley and Nicki Turner were the 3rd and the 4th highest run-scorer (446) and (342) and Bridgit Legg was the 5th highest wicket-taker (11) with an average of 14.36.
They made it to the finals in the 1993 world cup, and finished 2nd on the leader board. Debbie Hockley was once again in the top 5 run scorers with 229 runs. And Julie Harris was the 2nd highest wicket-taker with 15 wickets and an average of 9.33. New Zealand again in 1997 failed to claim the title and were the runners up for the 2nd time in a row. The Kiwis had an exceptional run in the 1997 world cup, making several records. Debbie Hockley had the most runs (456), she also had the most hundreds and most fifties title to her name. For the bowling records, right arm medium fast Katrina Keenan was the highest wicket-taker with 13 wickets. Nicola Payne had the most catches(6) and Kathryn Ramel had the most catches in an innings (3).
New Zealand finally claimed the title and went home Champions in the 2000 world cup, the squad was led by Emily Drumm, she was the 4th highest run-scorer (339) followed by Anna Smith (308). Katrina Keenan was the 4th highest wicket-taker(12) with an average of 10.66. Whereas in 2009 they finished 2nd on the leader board, where Suzie Bates and Kate Pulford were named in the first ever World Cup XI. They finished 4th in the 2013 world cup where Suzie Bates was the highest runs-corer (407) and was also the player of the series and Sian Ruck was the 3rd highest wicket-taker (12).
PAKISTAN
Pakistan has participated in three editions of the world cup: 1997 world cup, 2009 world cup and 2013 world cup. The team did not win any of their matches in the 1997 world cup and finished 11th. Pakistan won their first world cup match in the 2009 world cup, they made it to the super sixes round by defeating Sri Lanka by 57 runs with Nain Abidi scoring 26 runs, and the woman of the match Qanita Jalil taking 3 wickets for 33. They qualified for the fifth place playoff match defeating West Indies in the super sixes by 4 wickets, but finished 6th place losing to the same team by 3 wickets. They again failed to claim the title in 2013.