The
Women's World Twenty20 officially kicks off today with the
Australia-New Zealand game; for the first time, it will be contested
by the top 10 teams, instead of the usual 8. Unlike in the men's
tournament, there is no “pre-qualifying” round, which means,
excitingly, that hosts Bangladesh (as well as the other “minnow”,
Ireland) will each have the opportunity to play three of the world's
top teams in the group stages. Whatever happens in the games, then,
this is going to be a pretty historic tournament.
It's
going to be historic for another reason, too. In 2009, in the
inaugural WWT20 tournament, England played New Zealand in the final
at Lord's, and strolled home to victory by six wickets. In the wake
of their loss, New Zealand's then coach Gary Stead said: “today
felt a little bit like the amateurs playing the professionals”.
This is the first world tournament in which that will, in fact, be
the case: over the last 12 months both Cricket Australia and the ECB
have announced contracts for their female players which are lucrative
enough to allow them to train and play cricket full-time. Suddenly,
two of the competitors in this tournament are fielding groups of
professionals – the first in women's cricket for over 100 years
(and arguably ever).
Australia
are the defending World Twenty20 champions, having beaten England by
4 runs in the 2012 final; and it is generally acknowledged that
England and Australia are right at the front of the pack in terms of
women's cricket rankings. The coming of professional contracts will,
surely, only put them further ahead?
But
there is one salient fact which glib, easy predictions of an
England-Australia final tend to overlook: and that is that the
top-ranked teams in women's cricket (England, Australia, and 3rd
ranked team New Zealand) have no experience whatsoever of playing
international cricket in Bangladesh. The conditions, and the pitches,
will be completely alien to them.
Contrast
that with the other teams in the tournament, and it's evident that in
one respect at least, the lower-ranked teams are ahead of the game.
The 2011 World Cup qualifiers (featuring West Indies, Pakistan, South
Africa, Ireland and Sri Lanka) took place in Bangladesh; West Indies
won all their matches. And Pakistan and India have both just finished
T20 series' against Bangladesh, played at Cox's Bazar, with
Bangladesh whitewashed on both occasions. Add that to the fact that
Twenty20 is a notoriously unpredictable form of the game, and I
genuinely believe that – as the 50-over World Cup did last year –
this tournament could throw up some real upsets.
Group A
Australia
Australia may have come out on top in the T20 leg of the recent Ashes
series (the scoreline was 2-1), but their recent problems with the
bat cannot be ignored. Jess Cameron, their top-scorer in the 2012
tournament, averaged just 13 across the Ashes series and was dropped
for the final T20 game; Ellyse Villani has suffered a similar lack of
form at international level. And Meg Lanning, whose firepower will be
crucial to Australia's chances, now has the added pressure of the
captaincy to deal with, thanks to Jodie Fields' injury.
Australia may have the most talented all-rounder (Ellyse Perry) and
spin bowler (Erin Osborne) in the competition, and a very experienced
squad, but I don't think it's going to be as easy as all that for
them. I'm left wondering whether their loss to West Indies in the
warm-up match might be a sign of things to come.
New Zealand
New Zealand may have just beaten West Indies 4-0 in the T20 series,
but that was in home conditions; I don't hold out huge amounts of
hope for them in this tournament. Two of the world's top
all-rounders, Sophie Devine and the incomparable Suzie Bates, may
both be in form, and Morna Nielsen may have just taken 3-9 in the
warm-up against India. But New Zealand demonstrated a shocking lack
of batting depth during the October tri-series against West Indies
and England, collapsing from 74-1 to 106 all out in one of their
matches. They have followed this up in the warm-up matches by being
bowled out for just 48 by England, which somewhat proves my point. If
they reach the semi-finals, it'll be because this is the weaker group
in the competition.
Pakistan
Pakistan have a top-quality spin attack which includes left-arm
orthodox bowler Sadia Yousuf, who has 37 T20I wickets and took 4-9
against Ireland in the 2013 qualifying tournament. And having beaten
England for the first time ever in a T20 at Loughborough last July
(Nain Abidi made 45), and won the tri-series in Qatar in January
against Ireland and South Africa, they looked to be on an upwards
trajectory. But they have followed this up with a 2-0 loss to
Bangladesh in an ODI series earlier this month. Frankly, with levels
of consistency which mirror their male counterparts, it's difficult
to predict how they might fare in this tournament.
South Africa
The South African team
is a bit of an enigma. Filled with experienced, quality batsmen like
captain Mignon du Preez and keeper Trisha Chetty, as well as the
talented Lizelle Lee, who made her debut against Bangladesh in
September last year, they have recently enjoyed an ODI series win
against Pakistan. But in the 2009 and 2010 tournaments they lost all
their matches, and given that they've never beaten Australia or New
Zealand in an international match, and they finished fifth in last
year's World Cup, it would be difficult to predict a different result
this time around.
Ireland
Ireland
are the real underdogs in this tournament, given that only three
teams could progress from the qualifiers, and they came third. Their
stand-out players are captain Isobel Joyce, whose 72* took them to
victory against the Netherlands in the qualifiers and who top-scored
for them in the recent Qatar tri-series; and Clare Shillington, so
far the only Irish woman to score an international Twenty20 century.
But they are a young, inexperienced squad (medium-pacer Lucy O'Reilly
is just 14 years old; leggie Elena Tice is 16) and realistically are
unlikely to win any of their games. Good to see them getting the
opportunity to compete at the top-level, though.
Group B
England
England have the best captain, the best keeper and the best fielder
in the women's game at their disposal: enough said, perhaps,
especially given that Ashes-winning performance in the Hobart T20
from the aforementioned captain (92*). Australia may be defending
champions, but England have just won the multi-format Ashes...twice.
And yet...they are coming into this tournament on the back of two
pretty poor batting performances in those second two T20s (totals of
98 and 101), and in Bangladesh they will be batting on unfamiliar
pitches. And given that spin is likely to be crucial in this
tournament, the fact that England are still without both Holly Colvin
and Laura Marsh has got to be a concern (the uncapped Jodie Dibble
and Rebecca Grundy are in the squad as replacements). Edwards may be
experimenting with herself as a third spin option (she bowled an over
in the final T20 at Sydney), but relying on a bowler who prior to
Sydney had not bowled in T20Is since October 2011 is not really
ideal.
I hope I'm wrong, but as an England fan, I'm worried.
West Indies
It's pretty obvious that West Indies have the most dangerous two
players in this competition: Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin
(whose 38-ball century, the fastest in all international T20 cricket,
men's and women's, came during the 2010 tournament). But, as well as
this firepower, they also have two of the most dangerous bowlers:
offspinner Anisa Mohammed, and left-arm medium-pacer Shanel Daley,
who is the 2nd-ranked T20I bowler according to the ICC's criteria.
They have a good track record in the World Twenty20: they reached the
semi-final in 2010 having knocked out the defending champions,
England, in the group stages. And this series is coming on the back
of their appearance in the 50-over World Cup final, and a victory in
the tri-series against England and New Zealand. Their one issue may
be a lack of batting depth in their squad, aside from Taylor and
Dottin. But they've just beaten Australia by 16 runs in the warm-up
fixture, and I'm going to go right ahead and call it: I reckon they
might just make their second successive global tournament final.
India
India, one of the traditional powerhouses of women's cricket, appear
to be a team on the decline. Beaten at home in January by Sri Lanka,
who won the T20 series 2-1, they are also entering this tournament
having failed to reach the Super Sixes stage of the 50-over World Cup
which they hosted. And thanks to the BCCI, who don't appear to give a
damn about women's cricket, they have played very little
international cricket over the past couple of years.
They do have significant weapons in their armoury: their in-form,
elegant batsman and captain Mithali Raj; Jhulan Goswami, possibly the
fastest bowler in the women's game; and left-armer Sravanthi Naidu,
whose figures of 4-9 against Bangladesh earlier this month helped
take India to a 3-0 victory in that T20 series. Even so, it's hard to
foresee them getting anywhere near to the semis.
Sri Lanka
One of those “minnows” who can't quite be considered a minnow any
more, in the wake of their victories against England and India at
last year's World Cup, and their more recent T20 series victory
against India in January. Their key player will be Shashikala
Siriwardene, the captain and a talented all-rounder who is the only
Sri Lankan to currently feature in the ICC's T20 rankings. I'm also
excited to see how Eshani Lokusuriyage (aka Kaushalya), who was the
star of their World Cup campaign last year when she hit fifties
against both England and India to bring home victories against the
top sides, performs. Given their experience of these conditions, I
can see Sri Lanka causing a few upsets over the next fortnight.
Bangladesh
The hosts. Duh. Which presumably gives them some kind of home
advantage, given how little international women's cricket has been
played on Bangladeshi pitches. And in captain Salma Khatun, their
leading wicket-taker and run-scorer in T20Is, they have a spinner who
can exploit those conditions. Batsman Fargana Hoque, who has just hit
35 against Pakistan in the T20 series between the sides, also looks
promising. And they did record their first ever ODI series victory
earlier this month, beating Pakistan 2-0. Having said that, given the
other teams in their group, I can't see them winning a match in this
tournament.
