New Zealand to take on West Indies in 2022 Women's World Cup opener

Dec 15, 2021

New Zealand to take on West Indies in 2022 Women's World Cup opener Image

The 2022 Women's World Cup will get underway on 4 March, at the Bay Oval in Tauranga with New Zealand taking on West Indies. The next day, Australia will go up against England at Seddon Park, Hamilton, and India will face Pakistan in Tauranga the following day.

Thirty-one matches will be played in six cities – Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Tauranga, and Wellington – across 31 days between the eight nations. Based on their positions in ICC Women's Championship 2017-20, Australia, England, South Africa and India qualified for the event, while New Zealand directly qualified as hosts.

After the 2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier was abandoned due to the Covid-19 scare, Bangladesh, Pakistan and West Indies filled the final three places on the basis of their current ODI Rankings.

The tournament will be played in round-robin league format. The top four sides will qualify for the semi-finals.

The first semi-final will be held at The Basin Reserve, Wellington on 30 March, while The Hagley Oval in Christchurch will host both the second semi-final (31 March) and the final (3 April). There will be a reserve day for every knockout fixture.

This will be the first women's global event since the Covid-19 outbreak. The Women’s T20 World Cup, in February and March 2020, was the last, when Australia beat India in the final.