It’s a boom period for women’s cricket with interest in the game higher than ever before. In England, a new format of the sport known as The Hundred gave the women equal billing with their male counterparts before Australia and India took over with a thrilling series of matches from September onwards.
2021 has been a year to remember but the women’s game will get bigger and better in 2022. In March, New Zealand will host the 12th edition of the Women’s 50 Over World Cup with the best players in the game set to bring Women’s Cricket to an even wider audience.
Competing Teams
Eight national teams have qualified for the tournament which is scheduled to begin on March 4th, 2022. Host country New Zealand will be joined by defending champions England while the list is set to be completed by Australia, India and South Africa plus three more sides who have yet to complete the qualification process.
While the full schedule of competing nations isn’t quite confirmed at the time of writing, the winner of the 2022 World Cup is likely to come from the five teams who have already qualified.
The sports betting markets for the tournament have yet to fully open but the top bookies in the UK are likely to have England, Australia and India closely matched as the favourites. New Zealand can also be dangerous and it should be remembered that the White Ferns have home advantage.
With several months to go until the World Cup begins, sbo.net is the place to be as those odds are published. Not only will there be a market available for the winner of the 2022 Women’s World Cup, there will also be match betting plus supplementary options for top batter, top bowler and others.
Readers will see those odds updated by sbo.net as the tournament gets underway while there will also be news articles and opinion pieces to read. The panel of recommended bookmakers are accepting registrations so it’s possible to take that cricketing interest a stage further.
Many of those sportsbooks will have generous welcome offers in place while a choice of deposit and withdrawal options plus effective customer service are among the other benefits.
There’s a lot to take in via the website but how does the World Cup actually work?
History and Format
The very first edition of the Women’s Cricket World Cup was held in 1973, a full two years before the men’s version. It was a very modest tournament with just seven teams, most of whom were regional or junior sides.
The women’s game is far more professional in the modern day and eight active countries will assemble in New Zealand. The initial phase of the 2022 tournament will see all teams play each other once, on a round robin basis.
At the end of that sequence, the top four sides will progress to the knockout stage. Two semifinals and a final will subsequently confirm which of those nations will lift the trophy.
Verdict on the Women’s World Cup
The 2022 Women’s World Cup provides a simple format and it’s one that should allow the stronger teams to rise to the top. A round robin system in the opening weeks means that sides can afford to make the occasional mistake along the way and they don’t have to win all of their matches.
That system would bring us back to the top four teams, England, Australia, New Zealand and India, but how do we separate them? Of that list, only India have failed to win the trophy, although they have been runners up on two occasions, in 2005 and 2017.
Perhaps it’s time for India to deliver on their promise and the huge natural talent within their squad. England will also be confident, having lifted the trophy when it was last played on their home turf back in 2017.
Familiar conditions could also aid Australia, who are the most successful team in the history of the World Cup. They’ve won it on no fewer than six previous occasions and it could well be time to add to that list.
Whatever happens, it’s set to be another thrilling series of games that can continue to drive women’s cricket forward.
