7 Highlights Of The Recently Concluded ICC Women's World Cup

The 2022 Women¡¯s ODI World Cup was the perfect parable of high-octane, world-class cricket that one comes to seek in mega tournaments such as the mother of all cricketing battles.

A show stopping event ultimately aced by the convincing Australians, now seven-time winners, the world cup saw many an exciting performance that both lifted the standards of cricket and the spirit of the contest.

Australia, South Africa, West Indies and England reached the semi final stage having played convincingly all throughout whilst the likes of India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh bowed out but not before producing some fine spectacles under the sun.

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Yet, what performances, whether we speak of individual capacity or from the team¡¯s perspective, stood out and made the world cup such a humungous success?

1. The Proteas Women played spirited, indefatigable brand of Cricket

One of the vastly improved and ultra competitive sides in women¡¯s cricket, South Africa played like artists and bowed out like true champions in the just-concluded edition of the World Cup.

The 2022 campaign served evidence of the marked improvement the Proteas have carried in all departments of their game. Sune Luus, a promising leader, fired three fifties and upped the strike rate when the team needed the most. Marizanne Kapp, who¡¯s so often had to miss several key contests owing to last minute injuries fired with both bat and ball, collecting a fifer against the English (5 for 45) whilst scoring over 200 runs. Moreover, the experienced campaigner emerged unbeaten in three of her eight innings.

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Mignon du Preez, who missed out on scoring early on in the contest, contained a batting collapse in the rain-hit game against the Windies, before guiding her team home on a last ball run chase against India, which enabled South Africa to sail to the semis.

Shabnim Ismail, ever impressive with the white ball, was shrewd and fast as ever and collected 14 wickets, which included 3 three-fors.

But the real genius from the Proteas contingent was Laura Wolvaardt, who pounded 433 runs, the most by any South African batter.

A true artist who excels with the cover drive, her batting boasting of the technical virtuosity one hopes to inculcate, Laura Wolvaardt was truly exceptional in that four of her five half centuries in the world cup were hit on the trot.

Even as their final contest against Australia saw the Proteas women failing to bring their A game to the fore, in the games before, think India, New Zealand, South Africa were right on the money and seemed destined to play the finals, which sadly wasn¡¯t the case.

2. Hayley Matthews stood tall for the West Indies

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Ideally, given the way they had started the West Indies women should have gone as far as playing the finals, truth be told. Alas, that wasn¡¯t to be as given their sudden downslide in form, evident in the big harrowing losses sustained against India and Australia, the tables turned against their favour.

But even then the tall Barbadian all rounder Hayley Matthews deeply impressed with both bat and ball.

Taking ten wickets whilst bowling her effective, loopy and foxy off spinners, Hayley emerged to be the bane of most batters. Her excellent 4 for 15 against Bangladesh in a particularly low scoring encounter helped Windies¡¯ cause in a game where it seemed the Caribbean girls were set to lose.

But it was her big hitting 119 against a Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine, Amelia Kerr powered New Zealand that truly unfurled a big starry performance; the West Indies resorting to a thrilling win in their world cup opening contest at the back of Matthews¡¯ heroics.

The right hander noted for hitting lofty strokes would go onto strike a 45 versus England and a 43 against India in the games that followed. But sadly, it seemed she often lacked the support from others, most noticeably captain Stafanie Taylor, who had a rather disappointing outcome.

3. India played bravely despite the eventual heartbreak

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India enjoyed a solid tournament even as they floundered in the virtual semi final game, a contest that would perhaps be most known for the now infamous no-ball delivered by Deepti Sharma (in the final over of SA¡¯s chase) that let the game slip out of her team¡¯s hands.

Impeccable and clinical where games against the West Indies and Pakistan stood, India found themselves challenged by teams like Australia and New Zealand that tested them endlessly.

Among the facets that stood out for the Mithali Raj-led side was Yastika Bhatia, the 21-year-old firing back-to-back fifties against Bangladesh and Australia. Any doubts whether she can be a long-term feature of the side were dashed to the ground given her technically sound approach to batting coupled with inborn patience.

In the game against Pakistan that was at one stage slipping out of India¡¯s grasp, the magnificent batting stance stitched together by Sneh Rana and Pooja Vastrakar emboldened the nation¡¯s hopes and gave Bismah Maroof a lot of headache.

When all the top batters departed, Rana and Vastrakar, two critical members of the side, held firm in the middle to manufacture a key and eventually, decisive 122-run stand. Who¡¯d have thought that India, 114 for 6 wickets, at one stage would emerge unscathed in the end?

The world cup most notably also saw the great Harmanpreet Kaur return to glorious form, her valiant fifty against Australia and that 109 against the West Indies reaffirming the belief that India have in their ranks a true middle order great.

4. Pakistan women entertained despite massive heartbreak

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Quite frankly, there wasn¡¯t too much to write home about Pakistan women where the 2022 Women¡¯s ODI world cup was concerned. That¡¯s down to the fact that Pakistan only managed a solitary victory it being against the West Indies when their campaign was nearly over. They even managed to lose to a highly inexperienced Bangladesh side that played its maiden ODI world cup.

Yet, there were moments of individual heroism that stood out that shouldn¡¯t go unaddressed. For instance, Bismah Maroof, the captain¡¯s impressive return to international cricket. For a side that is so often reliant on its bowling, Pakistan desperately needed the old guard to revive its fledgling batting cauldron and the leftie didn¡¯t disappoint in the key contest against Australia where Maroof fired her only fifty.

Sidra Ameen fired a beautiful 104 off 140 deliveries against Bangladesh and did all she could in her lone capacity to negate the threat of a defeat only to emerge on the wrong side of the result. Her dedicated knock was the sole century that any Pakistan batter managed in this world cup. While the usually handy Diana Baig wasn¡¯t among too many wickets and Aliya Riaz had a world cup to forget, the likes of Nida Dar came to the party, with two half centuries in the tournament besides taking a massively impressive 4 for 10 vs the Windies women, best bowling figures ever for a Pakistani bowler in an ODI world cup edition.

5. A world cup of hits and misses and nail biting finishes

If the 2017 Women¡¯s ODI world cup was responsible for increasing Women¡¯s cricket¡¯s popularity, then it will not be wrong to say that the 2022 ODI world cup placed the women¡¯s game on a different pedestal.

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While the 2017 ODI WC would be most remembered for England causing heartbreak for India and Harmanpreet Kaur¡¯s batting belligerence as evidenced during her whirlwind 171 not out, the 2022 event saw the cricket marked by several close finishes with many games ending in a nail-biting finish.

And among the teams that added a dash of thrill and nervous excitement to the world cup contests included the West Indies and the Proteas women. The Stafanie Taylor-led Windies managed to upstage England and New Zealand by 7 and 3 runs, respectively with key wickets falling at the very fag end of the contests.

West Indies even beat Bangladesh, who very nearly usurped the Caribbean team, by a margin of one wicket in what was a game of massive uncertainty.

Meanwhile, the Proteas first defeated England in the very last over of their run chase by a margin as scant as 3 wickets (4 deliveries remaining) and later, eliminated India from the tournament in chasing one run ultimately collected of the very last delivery of the game.

In so doing, experienced hand Mignon du Preez, the last recognized batter for South Africa at that time, ensured that the Luus-led side marched on to the semis whilst Mithali¡¯s illustrious side bowed out, but with grace. Even a team like Australia managed to scamper home against India when no more than three deliveries were left in the game, a contest most set ablaze by Meg Lanning¡¯s mega knock.

If there was a tournament that had world records created and some broken during absolute cliffhangers, then look no further for this was it.

6. Alyssa Healy came brought her A-game in the semis and the finals

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Not Mrs Starc alone, not just Mitchell Starc¡¯s better half; a world class dismantler of bowlers Alyssa Healy!

In a team comprising of several matchwinners, think Schutt, Lanning, Perry, Gardner, Jonassen and Haynes, Alyssa Healy is the epitome of destruction, a warning for bowlers and a standout performer with the bat. Actually the credit that goes her way should automatically be doubled given it is only after wicket keeping for a full quota of 50 overs that Healy comes out to bat.

And boy when she does, there are usually fireworks that happen much to the chagrin of those who challenge Australia¡¯s authority in a contest.

England learned this the hard way as in firing 170 runs, the most by any batter- male or female- in any edition of the ODI world cup, Alyssa Healy took Australia to a mammoth 356 in the finals. This wasn¡¯t before her unprecedented 129 versus the West Indies in the keenly followed semi final contest.

To give an idea of how dominant the right hander was in the final two games of the series, it helps to know that Alyssa Healy scored nearly 300 of her 509 2022 world cup runs from just two games.

That¡¯s when she had endured a sedate start to the world cup. But as they say, the greats always step in during the big match stage and ditto for the Queenslander, who offered the lion¡¯s share of runs to her team when they were most needed.

7. Heartbreak for Mithali Raj, a legend of the sport

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Mithali Raj didn¡¯t exactly set the tournament on fire especially where her rather painfully slow batting came into question, as evidenced during the first half of the World Cup. From a total of seven games, India¡¯s decorated batter managed only 182 runs, which included a naught and three single digit scores. Yet, she fougth hard in crunch games against the Aussies and the Proteas where she scored 68 (against both).

But from a leadership point of view, the 2022 WC wasn¡¯t made of the dreams Mithali would¡¯ve liked to chase being the captain of an inspirational side. With 7,805 ODI runs to her name, the most by a batter in women¡¯s ODIs, Mithali doesn¡¯t need to prove a thing to anyone but would liked to have ended what was effectively her final world cup on a brighter note.

Playing alongside her was close friend and accomplished front line medium pace bowler Jhulan Goswami, a hero of the sport and an icon with the white ball.

Goswami, 7 wickets from the series, stands tallest in the women¡¯s game where the wicket department is concerned: her 252 scalps being the most by a bowler in women¡¯s ODIs.

But even the great legend from West Bengal, who was surprisingly not played in the huge game against the Proteas, would¡¯ve felt that she too could¡¯ve fared better akin to close aid Mithali Raj.

The writer is a freelance contributor. The opinions expressed in the article are writer's own.

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