Finally the Women's World Cup 2013 (wwc13) will get underway tomorrow (09.00GMT) with the hosts India taking on the West Indies in what could be the best of the first round of games. There are effectively three initial rounds of four games, as each of the four members of the two groups (A & B) take on the other three teams in their respective groups.
The first round matches are
India v West Indies [group A]
England v Sri Lanka [group A]
Australia v Pakistan [group B]
New Zealand v South Africa [group B]
India had a fantastic warm-up win against New Zealand, and put up a reasonable effort against Australia and on home soil they will be favourites to beat the West Indies, who have only had one warm-up game when they got mashed by the Aussies. There is a lot resting on the shoulders of Stafanie Taylor for the Windies and I am not sure that she is fully fit. If Deandra Dottin, Merissa Aguilleira and Shanel Daley can also come to the party then the Windies might just pull off the first shock of the tournament.
You would expect England and Australia to both win their games comfortably. If they bat first they will be looking to rack up more than 300 and I wouldn't mind betting that the tournament's first individual century could come from one of these two games.
New Zealand have had a great time recently, beating Australia in a T20 series and England in their last warm-up game (although they had lost the previous one quite badly to India). South Africa had a good tour to the West Indies just prior to coming to the World Cup and have a potential star of this tournament in Dane van Niekerk (both with ball and bat). The Saffas seem to have trouble scoring more than 200 within 50 overs, but if they can restrict the White Ferns to this sort of score they may be in with a sniff. Sensible money will be on New Zealand to win though.
After all the build-up and the chaos of the past couple of weeks it will be great to get WWC13 underway. The first two of these games will be televised and hopefully all the countries taking part will be showing them. Let's hope that the ICC's live scores on the internet also work somewhat better than they did in the warm-up games.
PLAY.....................
MD
30/I/13
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I think the first game between India and Windies will be a very close encounter, with both team having some very good batters. However, I can't see the scores being anything to write home about. I think both teams will be looking for about 220-230 for a very competitve score.
ReplyDeleteHaving myself, never personally seen a great deal of the Sri Lankan team, they're some what of an unknown entity. However, reading different write ups and reports, I can see an emphatic victory for England. As you said, I feel that anything below 300 will be dissapointing for England. Sarah Taylor has yet to show her phenomenal talent in the 2 warm up games, so I think we can expect some fireworks and, again, as you said possibly the first ton!!! Also Tammy Beaumont hasn't performed greatly in the 2 warm up games, with her county form for Kent being so good I think we can expect plenty of runs from her as well!
The Australian team are always a team to avoid in the early stages of any tournament, especially with the form they have shown in the run up to this tournament. After beating England in the final of the T20 World Cup and winning both of there warm up games so comprehensively, I feel they have the upper hand over the rest of the field. Following little snipits of the Australian womens domestic leagues and cups, their batters are in prime form, with the likes of Meg Lanning and Jess Cameron making ample runs. They also have the relative new comer to the international scene in Ellyse Villani, who has proved herself to be an outstanding batter to have at the top of the innings. She has already made a half century in the first warm up game. Ellyse was also involved in a record first wicket partnership for Staffordshire Ladies, with our very own Danni Wyatt, where they put on 200+ (Villani 100n/o, Wyatt 98n/o)
After defeating defending champions England in the second warm up game, New Zealand will be riding a massive confidence boost. I feel a little sorry for South Afica (Never thought i'd ever say that) because unfortunatly I can see a royal battering coming there way. I think New Zealand will be too strong in every department for South Africa. With only the South African captain Du Preez making any impact with bat so far within the 2 warm up games. This is another game where I can see a ton on the cards for one of the New Zealand Women. My money has to be on the captain Susie Bates