Busy week to settle WWC17 places

It is a busy last few days in the ICC Women's Championship this week as the final round of fixtures are played and the four teams that automatically qualify for the 2017 World Cup emerge (subject to the ICC's ruling on the unplayed Pakistan v India fixtures)

On Tuesday England, who have already secured their qualification with victory in the second ODI against Sri Lanka, again take on their hosts at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. It will be interesting to see if Katherine Brunt has recovered from her "niggle" which took her off the field in the last game, and if newbie Emma Lamb is given her first cap?

On Wednesday West Indies have their final chance to secure their WWC17 place for themselves as they take on India in the third and final ODI in Vijayawada. They have failed to score enough runs in the first two games and been well beaten by their Indian hosts. If West Indies are again beaten, then the door remains just slightly ajar for South Africa to sneek past them into the top four, although they will have to beat Australia...three times!
As for India, without the six points from the unplayed games against Pakistan, they will finish in fifth or sixth spot and will be in Sri Lanka for the qualifying tournament.

Also on Wednesday New Zealand can seal their place in WWC17 if they win the fourth ODI against Pakistan. In the three games to date they have been untroubled, although Pakistan did manage to put 263/6 on the board in the last game (the first ICCWC match). New Zealand still chased it down with nearly six overs to spare and eight wickets in hand. Amy Satterthwaite helped herself to a second consecutive unbeaten hundred, and she will be looking for more runs as the teams move to Nelson for the final two ODIs of the series.

On Thursday England conclude their series against Sri Lanka with the fourth ODI in the series. It will be England's last ODI before the World Cup warm-ups, unless they can fit in another "unofficial" series before next June.

On Friday Australia start their five match ODI series against South Africa (with the first three to count towards the ICCWC). It is the final series in the ICCWC competition, with Australia already through to the WWC17, but, by this time, it may already be too late for South Africa to get there without going to Sri Lanka first. The second and third games will be played the following Sunday and Wednesday.

And finally Saturday will see the conclusion of the New Zealand v Pakistan series. How many ODI runs can Amy Satterthwaite finish up with in 2016? She has 730 so far!!

MD
14/XI/16