By Bobby Macumber
Australia have won 4 out of the 6 Women’s T20 World Cups (WT20WC) since it’s inception in 2009, making them the stand-out favourites, which is very exciting considering we get to see them in action on home soil in 2020. Will they withstand the pressure at home, or will they struggle to live up to expectation?
I believe they will thrive on their homeland… well I bloody hope so anyway, because I’ve got tickets to see Katy Perry at a packed out MCG on March 8!
Let’s take a look at each of the teams and what we can expect from this competition.
GROUP A
AUSTRALIA
T20I RANKING: 1
BEST RESULT IN WT20WC: Champions 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018
WHAT WE KNOW: Australia has been the dominant nation in women’s cricket, ranked number 1 in both the ICC’s ODI and T20 Rankings.
CURRENT FORM: Australia recently played in a Tri-Series against England and India. They will play India in the final on Wednesday 12th February at Junction Oval. Some of Australia’s big names struggled to score runs, however Ash Gardner topped the leaderboard finishing with 141 from four matches with a strike rate of 136.89.
LOOK OUT FOR: Tayla Vlaeminck is one of the fastest bowlers Australia has seen since Cathryn Fitzpatrick. The youngster is in fine form leading into the WT20WC.
INDIA
T20I RANKING: 4
BEST RESULT IN WT20WC: Semi-Finals 2009, 2010, 2018
WHAT WE KNOW: India are genuine contenders coming into this years WT20WC. Jemimah Rodriques is ranked 4th in the ICC’s T20I batting rankings alongside other powerhouses Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana.
CURRENT FORM: In November, 2019, India defeated the West Indies in a T20I Series 5-0.
India recently finished in the top 2 of a Tri-Series between Australia and England. They will play the final against Australia on Wednesday 12th February at Junction Oval.
LOOK OUT FOR: 16 year old Shafali Verma is an exciting new opening batter for India. Her 49 (28) against Australia was a standout knock.
NEW ZEALAND
T20I RANKING: 3
BEST RESULT IN WT20WC: Runners Up 2009, 2010
WHAT WE KNOW: Appearing in a number of Semi-Finals and Finals in WT20WC history, the Kiwi’s can’t quite seem to break through for the title.
CURRENT FORM: New Zealand are currently playing South Africa in a 5 match T20 Series, where they lead 2-1.
LOOK OUT FOR: Newly appointed skipper, Sophie Devine was named WBBL05 Player of the Tournament and her form hasn’t stopped leading into the WT20WC. With scores of 54* (32), 61 (43) & 77 (57) after the first 3 games of their current Series, she is unstoppable.
BANGLADESH
T20I RANKING: 9
BEST RESULT IN WT20WC: First Round
WHAT WE KNOW: Bangladesh played in their first WT20WC in 2014 as host country, however they have not proceeded past the first round in their three appearances.
CURRENT FORM: In January 2020, Bangladesh played in a Quadrangular T20 Series against Thailand, India A & India B, finishing in 2nd place.
LOOK OUT FOR: Sanjida Islam & Nigar Sultana top scored during the recent Quadrangular T20 Series, whilst Salma Khatun stood out with the ball, finishing with 5 wickets.
SRI LANKA
T20I RANKING: 8
BEST RESULT IN WT20WC: First Round
WHAT WE KNOW: Sri Lanka have never passed the First Round when it comes to WT20WC’s. The team lacks depth, which makes it difficult against the top countries.
CURRENT FORM: Sri Lanka toured Australia in Sep-Oct 2019. They played Australia in 3 T20 matches, but did not win a game.
LOOK OUT FOR: Chamari Atapattu is best known for smashing 178 not out against Australia in the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup.
GROUP B
ENGLAND
T20I RANKING: 2
BEST RESULT IN WT20WC: Champions 2009
WHAT WE KNOW: England have finished runners up on three occasions during WT20WC’s; losing all three finals to Australia.
CURRENT FORM: England defeated Pakistan 3-0 in December during a series in Kuala Lumpur. They’ve recently finished playing in a Tri-Series against Australia and India where they finished 3rd.
LOOK OUT FOR: Skipper Heather Knight has been the stand out with the bat in the past two Tri-Series, steering her country to victory multiple times.
WEST INDIES
T20I RANKING: 5
BEST RESULT IN WT20WC: Champions 2016
WHAT WE KNOW: They defeated Australia in 2016 to take out the WT20WC and boy did they celebrate. An exciting team to watch, their weakness is their inconsistency.
CURRENT FORM: In November 2019, they lost to India 5-0 in a T20 Series. They will compete against Pakistan in three warm up matches in Brisbane prior to the WT20WC.
LOOK OUT FOR: Deandra Dottin has star power and she knows it; a gun with the bat and ball. Both her and captain Stafanie Taylor are returning to the side from injuries.
SOUTH AFRICA
T20I RANKING: 6
BEST RESULT IN WT20WC: Semi-Finals 2014
WHAT WE KNOW: South Africa haven’t had the best results in WT20WC’s, however they do have the potential to beat any team if their stars can all perform on the same day.
CURRENT FORM: South Africa are currently down 2-1 in a 5 match T20 Series against New Zealand.
LOOK OUT FOR: Lizelle Lee & Chloe Tryon are two of the biggest hitters in the game.
Pace bowlers Marizanne Kapp and Shabnim Ismail will rattle batters with the ball and follow it up with a terrifying death stare.
PAKISTAN
T20I RANKING: 7
BEST RESULT IN WT20WC: First Round
WHAT WE KNOW: 34 year old Sana Mir has surprisingly been left out of the squad. The former captain is the third highest ranked Pakistan bowler in the ICC Bowling Rankings, and has a wealth of experience that Pakistan may miss during the WT20WC.
CURRENT FORM: Pakistan recently lost a T20 Tri-Series 3-0 against England in Kuala Lumpur.
LOOK OUT FOR: 15 year old Ayesha Naseem will be the youngest player of the tournament and will debut for Pakistan during the WT20WC.
THAILAND
T20I RANKING: 11
BEST RESULT IN WT20WC: First appearance in 2020
WHAT WE KNOW: Thailand defeated Papua New Guinea in the semi-final of the 2019 ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier in Scotland to win a spot in this years WT20WC.
CURRENT FORM: In 2020 they played in a Quadrangular T20 Series against Bangladesh, India A & India B, finishing in 3rd place.
LOOK OUT FOR: 26 year old Chanida Sutthiruang was named the ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year in 2019.
The ICC Women’S T20 World Cup 2020 begins on the 21st of February and concludes with the final on International Women’s Day, March 8.
The final will see an attempt to break the world record for attendance for a standalone women’s sporting match. The record currently is 90,185 at the 1999 Women’s World Cup final between the U.S. and China. Be part of history and be there!
Bobby Macumber is a cricket commentator, presenter and comedian. After representing Victoria in AFL on four occasions, Bobby was also named in the Victorian Women’s Football League’s (VWFL) Team of the Decade between 2000-2010.
Bobby has performed five solo shows at comedy festivals across the country over the last eight years, with her new show ‘Bobby Macumber is Extra’ debuting at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in April, 2020. Follow Bobby on Twitter.
Leave a Reply