The England team won the 2009 Women’s Cricket World Cup by beating New Zealand in the final by four wickets. It was a relatively easy victory as the Kiwis were bowled out for 166 earlier, but there were a few minor hiccups on the way as England slumped from 74 for no loss to 6/149. But the target was too low for England to be under any real pressure as they won with around 4 overs to spare.
This was an excellent performance from the England team, as they lost only one match on their way to winning the tournament, and that too an inconsequential match against Australia in the Super Six. This has taken them one closer to the 5 Cups won by the Australians. But with only 3 so far, they have some ways to go before they can overtake the Aussies.
If this had been the men’s team, there would have been much more being made of this victory. Unfortunately, the women’s game does not get as much press. I think one way to improve the visibility would be to have the Women’s World Cup at the same time as the men’s tournament. This may perhaps not be feasible initially for ODI matches because of television conflicts, but it could be done for T20. Maybe have the women’s game during the daytime and the men’s game in the evening, both played on the same ground.
It is interesting to see the Pakistan’s women’s team playing in this tournament. Because of cricket’s dress code, it is less objectionable from an Islamic standpoint. We earlier blogged about the men’s team from Afghanistan. Wonder if they will ever have a women’s team.
From the history annals, we have the England women’s cricket team in 1934-35.
