Tag: Womens World Cup

D(eepti) Day for India in Navi Mumbai

An account of events in Navi Mumbai today where India won the Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, beating South Africa by 52 runs in the final. Also a photo gallery.

Today was the final of the Women’s ODI world cup, between India, who had chased down an Australian total of 338 to win their semi-final, and South Africa who had thrashed England by 125 runs in their semi-final. This post looks back at an amazing day.

RAIN DELAYS THE START

It started rainy in Navi Mumbai, but the delay was not long enough for any overs to be lost. It was long enough for the BBC’s Team of The Tournament to be publicly named. The selection methodology used by those who set up this poll was questionable, and some of the voters (it was the final result of an online poll) must have had little idea of what they were actually voting for. The single most shocking detail of this team was that collectively the users of the BBC website’s cricket section did not find a place for Deepti Sharma, who came into this final as the leading wicket taker of the tournament and scorer of two half centuries with the bat as well. I named my team in this post and modified it after the first semi-final in this one, and it is my contention that I did a better job than the collective efforts of the voters on the BBC website. TMS commentator Daniel Norcross was every bit as unimpressed with the omission of Deepti Sharma as I was by the way. When the toss finally happened South Africa won it, and unsurprisingly opted to bowl first.

THE INDIAN INNINGS

India started superbly, but did not quite keep the blistering momentum going. Still, in a final a score of 298-7 looked formidable. Shafali Verma made a career best ODI score of 87, and Deepti Sharma weighed in with 58, becoming the first player ever to score three half centuries and claim 10 or more wickets at a single edition of the world cup. Richa Ghosh produced a powerful 34 near the end to give an innings that had been faltering a late lift. Ayabonga Khaka took 3-58 from nine overs, while left arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba had the most economical figures, 1-47 from 10 overs.

TWO DIFFERENT CONTESTS

At one end India were working their way steadily through the South African batting order, while at the other Laura Wolvaardt batted with absolute authority. A big moment came when Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur called up part time spinner Shafali Verma as seventh bowler, and was quickly rewarded with the wickets of Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp to make it 123-4. Sinalo Jafta yet again demonstrated the she is NOT, repeat NOT, an international number six, making 16 off 29 balls, which caused the RRR to climb to 7.5 an over. Annerie Dercksen came next and made a spirited 35 before Sharma, whose day this was becoming, bowled her with an absolute jaffa to make it 209-6. The decisive moment came 1.4 overs and 11 runs later, when Laura Wolvaardt, who had just followed her magnificent 169 in the semi-final by also clocking up three figures in the final, went big against Sharma and was well caught by Amanjot Kaur for 101 to make it 220-7. Twice in the group stages Nadine de Klerk had won South Africa games that looked lost when they were chasing, so some hope remained for South Africa. Three balls and one run later Tryon was given LBW, and a review did not save her. That left de Klerk to attempt to knock off 78 more runs with two rank tail enders for company. On the last ball of the 44th over Ayabonga Khaka, who should have known the de Klerk was desperate to retain the strike and would run almost no matter what failed to back up properly, and Deepti Sharma’s throw beat her to the wicket keeper’s end to make it 246-9. The first two balls of the 46th over, Sharma’s 10th and last were dots, but off the third Nadine de Klerk went aerial and picked out Indian skipper who accepted the chance, giving Deepti Sharma her fifth wicket of the innings and 22nd of the tournament, easily the most of anyone. In the end Verma, with 87 off 78balls and 2-36 from seven overs was named Player of the Match, while Sharma with 215 runs and 22 wickets across the tournament was a shoo-in for Player of the Tournament, making the failure of users of the cricket section of the BBC website to select her for Team of the Tournament look even more egregious than it had before the start of play. Full scorecard and other details here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England Win in Colombo

A brief look back at happenings at the Women’s cricket world cup on Thursday and yesterday, and account of today’s match in Colombo and two photo galleries.

Although today’s match dominates this post I make mention of a couple of others as well.

THURSDAY AND YESTERDAY

Tuesday and Wednesday both saw threats of upsets, but in each case the big side came good in the end. On Thursday we finally saw an upset. For most of the chase it looked like India were in charge, but then Nadine de Klerk, batting at number eight, came to the party. An astounding display from the spin bowling all rounder saw four sixes in the space of 2.5 overs (the first two balls of the 47th over, the third and fifth of the 49th). That last six, de Klerk’s fifth in all, took South Africa to victory with seven balls to spare. In total de Klerk scored 84 not out from 54 balls. Remarkably the innings that seemed to have given India enough to defend, Richa Ghosh’s 94, was also scored from number eight, though I cannot comment on that innings other than the bare detail since I was at work while it was being played.

Yesterday I missed the New Zealand innings (see my previous post) but got to hear most of the Bangladesh reply. This match was a familiar tale for Bangladesh and Pakistan at this tournament – a respectable bowling performance but the batters were simply not up to the task. Chasing 225 Bangladesh were at one point 33-6, and although they fought back somewhat from that nadir the final margin was over 100 runs in the Kiwis favour.

GALLERY ONE

SRI LANKA v ENGLAND

The start was slightly delayed by a wet outfield, but both sides stuck to their spin heavy selection plans. Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl, which did not worry Natalie Sciver-Brunt and England in the slightest since they would have batted first in any case.

Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones began brightly before a combination of an over-optimistic call by Beaumont and a hesitation on the part of Jones cost the latter her wicket. Sri Lanka fared well once they had broken this partnership, but they made a crucial error when a catch offered by Sciver-Brunt, then on 3, went to ground. While no one else made a major contribution the England skipper batted through, cautiously at first, and finally blazingly aggressively in the closing stages of the innings. Her 117 off 117 balls with nine fours and two sixes was the highest individual score of the tournament so far and got England to 253-9, which looked enough.

With 18 runs on the board Sri Lanka lost Chamari Athapaththu to a calf issue – she left the field on a stretcher, but after treatment it was confirmed that she would be able to resume her innings. Vishmi Gunaratne was bowled by Charlie Dean for 10 (9) to make it 37-1, but then for a time Sri Lanka prospered. It was Sophie Ecclestone who changed all that. A high water mark of 95-1 degenerated to 103-4 in the space of 2.2 overs, with the tall left armer dismissing Hasini Perera with the aid of a catch by Alice Capsey, Harshitha Samarawickrama to a fine running catch by Lauren Bell and Kavisha Dilhari clean bowled. There was the merest hint of a revival after that, but 13 runs later Ecclestone effectively terminated Sri Lanka’s interest in proceedings by clean bowling the restored Athapaththu with a beauty for her fourth wicket of the innings (at this stage she had 4-5). In the process of spinning this web from which Sri Lanka could not extricate themselves Ecclestone reached 30 wickets in ODI world cup matches, in just her 12th such game, five matches fewer than the previous quickest to that mark. Sri Lanka resisted with sufficient determination that their last wicket fell with only 4.2 overs of their allocation left, but the margin of 89 runs tells a truer story of this one-sided match. Sciver-Brunt picked up a couple of wickets in this phase to go with her century, and was the last player to touch the ball in the match, holding the catch off Linsey Smith that dismissed Udeshika Prabodhani.

GALLERY TWO

My usual sign off…