After the perfect finale between South Africa and India, each team has now played each other once in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022. The round robin is now over and we have two exciting semi-finals – Australia vs West Indies and South Africa vs England. The road to get here has been thrilling! We have witnessed several close finishes, upsets, and a wonderful amount of drama. On top of this, Bangladesh got their first ever win at a World Cup and Pakistan ended their streak of 18 consecutive losses. The defending champions, England, were almost knocked out and in the end the hosts, New Zealand, didn’t make the semis. However, four teams have made the semi-finals. So how did they get there? And what can we expect in the final three matches.
Australia vs West Indies
When: Wednesday March 30, 11am (local time).
Australia laid down a marker in their first match against England, scoring 310 runs. After this, they never looked back. Australia went through the round robin relatively untroubled. Despite the occasional tough moment, they recorded comfortable wins against Pakistan, New Zealand, the West Indies, and Bangladesh. Australia needed to complete a record chase in their last over win against India, and a then second-highest chase against South Africa. They’re well poised to go on and win the World Cup. Australia will be without Ellyse Perry for the semi-final after she suffered a back injury against South Africa.
The West Indies also set the tone for their tournament in the opening match against New Zealand. This match went down to the wire and was a rollercoaster from start to finish. However, the West Indies were terribly inconsistent throughout the rest of the round robin. Another tight win against England was followed up by big losses to India and Australia. They then suffered batting collapses against both Bangladesh and Pakistan – only just betting the former and losing to the latter. They then scraped through by the skin of their teeth after their match against South Africa was abandoned due to rain. The West Indies still needed South Africa to beat India and ensure their semi-final spot. West Indies will be without Afy Fletcher who has picked up covid – Mandy Mangru will come into the squad as cover.
Road to the semis
Australia: 1st place (14 points) – beat England by 12 runs; beat Pakistan by 7 wickets; won against New Zealand by 141 runs; beat West Indies by 7 wickets; beat India by 6 wickets; won against South Africa by 5 wickets; and beat Bangladesh by 5 wickets.
West Indies: 4th place (7 points) – beat New Zealand by 3 runs; beat England by 7 runs; beaten by India by 155 runs; beaten by Australia by 7 wickets; beat Bangladesh by 4 runs; beaten by Pakistan by 8 wickets; and match abandoned against South Africa.
Prediction: Australia are definite favourites and should win this to book their spot in the final. The West Indies will need to be at their absolute best if they want to cause their biggest upset so far.
South Africa vs England
When: Thursday 31 March, 2pm (local time).
South Africa lost only to Australia in their march towards second place and the semi-finals. South Africa generally took it deep in their matches, with four of their five wins only being sealed in the final over. Their only comfortable win came against Bangladesh in their first match in Dunedin. South Africa have proved they can handle the pressure situations, and a number of different players have been involved. These qualities will be greatly beneficial to South Africa in the semi-final. They also have one of the star players in the tournament, Laura Wolvaardt. Wolvaardt has scored 433 runs including 5 fifties in her 7 innings, and has just been announced as the best batter in the world.
England had a horror start to the defence of their World Cup title, falling to three defeats in a row. Admittedly England had a tough draw, playing Australia, the West Indies, and South Africa first up, but they would have hoped to start better. Their win against India in their fourth match was the turning point. England’s bowlers ran through India and their batters followed up with several useful contributions getting them over the line. Following this, England held on to beat New Zealand before comfortably winning against Pakistan and Bangladesh to secure their third place finish. The tight win against New Zealand might give them confidence under pressure, but as predicted in our World Cup Preview the inexperience in their squad could come back to haunt them.
Road to the semis
South Africa: 2nd place (11 points) – beat Bangladesh by 32 runs; won against Pakistan by 6 runs; beat England by 3 wickets; beat New Zealand by 2 wickets; beaten by Australia by 5 wickets; match abandoned against West Indies; and beat India by 3 wickets.
England: 3rd place (8 points) – beaten by Australia by 12 runs; beaten by West Indies by 7 runs; beaten by South Africa by 3 wickets; beat India by 4 wickets; won against New Zealand by 1 wicket; beat Pakistan by 9 wickets; beat Bangladesh by 100 runs.
Prediction: South Africa will win and book a rematch against Australia in the final of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022. They will have taken confidence from their earlier win against England and have been firing on all fronts. Conversely, England will be buoyed by their upturn in form and have some serious momentum behind them. However, this likely will not be enough for them to beat the in-form South Africans.
The Final
When: Sunday April 3, 1pm (local time).
At the moment, everything points to Australia and South Africa contesting the final of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022. While Australia look unstoppable, it would be a mistake to rule out South Africa causing an upset – in a final anything can happen. This has been a World Cup of tight finishes and close margins. The final will almost certainly follow this pattern, with just one or two key moments likely deciding the outcome. No matter what happens, both teams in the final, and the other six that are not there, can be proud of providing the most entertaining World Cup I can remember – men’s or women’s. I am going to be at the final on Sunday, and I can’t wait!
Written by Damon Lillis
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