ICC Women’s T20 World Cup: Groups, squads, fixtures and what’s new – here’s all you need to know

For the second edition on the trot, the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup will be standalone event. The tournament will see 10 teams compete in 23 matches played from 21 February to 8 March 2020 with the final coinciding with international women’s day at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Australia, the most successful team in history, is hosting the event for the first time.

History

No team can boast of a record nearly as good as Australia’s in the women’s T20 World Cup history.

From Harmanpreet Kaur to Ellyse Perry, players that featured in all Women’s T20 World Cup editions

Teams

Australia go into their curtain-raiser as defending T20 World Cup champions, and there’s a familiar look to their squad with 13 of the 15 having lifted the trophy two years ago.

Among them is Ellyse Perry, who boasts the honour of having appeared in all 32 of Australia’s matches in the tournament since making her breakthrough as a teenager in 2009.

How the teams stack up for ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020

Meg Lanning and Co are the best in the world for a reason and if they play anywhere close to their best, they will be hard to spot.

India can likewise call upon an ever-present in their ranks, with Harmanpreet Kaur set to lead the team having done so in the West Indies two years ago.

Opener Smriti Mandhana is named her deputy while 16-year-old Shafali Verma is also present, having impressed in her brief international career so far.

Young, inconsistent, but Harmanpreet Kaur’s India have potential to go the distance

Fellow Group A members New Zealand welcome Lea Tahuhu back to the squad, with the fast bowler and new mum taking time away from cricket having had her first child with teammate Amy Satterthwaite.

The squad will be led by the veteran Sophie Devine who, along with Suzie Bates, has featured in every Women’s T20 World Cup since its inception.

Their opening match will come on 22 February against Sri Lanka, led by Chamari Atapattu, with more than half of their squad reprising their positions from the last World Cup in the West Indies.

Meanwhile, Rumana Ahmed and Panna Ghosh are selected for Bangladesh, the former returning from a knee injury which kept her out of her side’s successful 2019 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier.

They’ll be led by Salma Khatun, who has helped propel the Tigers to new heights over the past few years.

Group B features two of the three T20 World Cup champions, with England looking to complete the limited-overs double having been crowned ICC Women’s World Cup champions in 2017.

Data check: Indian, Australian, Thai cricketers top batting, bowling charts since last T20 World Cup

Heather Knight continues her role as captain, with eight members of the squad that won at Lord’s selected for Australia.

Katherine Brunt, part of the victorious side in the inaugural T20 World Cup on home soil, earns a call-up, 16 years on from her international debut.

South Africa can once again call on Dane van Niekerk to lead an experienced squad in Australia, with 11 members also featuring in the West Indies in 2018.

Laura Wolvaardt and Lizelle Lee are expected to fire with the bat while Shabnim Ismail and Marizanne Kapp ensure that their fast bowling credentials will certainly be up to scratch.

Stafanie Taylor declared victory in 2016 as one of her proudest moments for West Indies – and the skipper can’t wait to try and repeat the trick in Australia.

She is one of four players whose World Cup roots span beyond a decade, with Deandra Dottin returning from a long injury lay-off while Lee-Ann Kirby returns after 12 years out of the international set-up.

Youth seems set to be the way forward for Pakistan, whose average age in the squad is just 24.8.

Bismah Maroof will bring the experience as captain with the likes of 15-year-old Ayesha Naseem and 16-year-old Syeda Aroob Shah excited for what they can produce on the big stage.

Australia 2020 will also welcome a new team into the fold with Thailand excited at the chance to make national history on the cricket field.

Never before have they been represented at an ICC event, with Sornnarin Tippoch receiving the honour of captaincy for this historic tournament.

Here are the complete squads for the 10 teams in fray

Fixtures

Format

All teams play each other once in the two groups. Top two teams from each group qualify for the semi-finals. A win gives a side two points, a loss none and while a tie (after Super Over in group stages) or no result or abandoned match will earn a single point.

Groups

In case of a tie between teams in the group to decide the semi-finalists, here is the order of tie-breakers:

1) The team with the most wins;

2) The team with the best Net Run Rate;

3) Head-to-head result (points, then if still equal, Net Run Rate).

Venues

This tournament will be played in four different cities at six different venues. All eyes will be on the MCG – the largest sports stadium in the southern hemisphere is to play host to the Final.

A world record crowd for a women’s sporting event could be set at the MCG on 8 March – International Women’s Day – as the 94,000-capacity venue gears up to host the tournament’s finale.

Sydney 

Matches at Sydney Showground Stadium: 21 February: Australia v India; 1 March: South Africa v Pakistan, England v West Indies; 3 March: Pakistan v Thailand, West Indies v South Africa 

Matches at Sydney Cricket Ground: 5 March: Semi-Finals 1 & 2 

Perth 

Matches at WACA Ground: 22 February: West Indies v Thailand, New Zealand v Sri Lanka; 23 February: England v South Africa; 24 February: Australia v Sri Lanka, India v Bangladesh 

Canberra
Matches at Manuka Oval: 26 February: England v Thailand, West Indies v Pakistan; 27 February: Australia v Bangladesh; 28 February: South Africa v Thailand, England v Pakistan 

Melbourne 

Matches at Junction Oval: 27 February: India v New Zealand; 29 February: New Zealand v Bangladesh, India v Sri Lanka; 2 March: Sri Lanka v Bangladesh, Australia v New Zealand 

Matches at Melbourne Cricket Ground: 8 March: Final 

Read all about the venues here:

What’s new

Super Over rules

Remember the madness of the men’s ODI world cup final at Lord’s? Well, things are bound to be different this time around.

In group games, if the match is a tie, a Super Over is played. If the Super Over is also a tie, the points are split. But in knock-out matches, different rules come into play. Yes, there won’t be a boundary countback.

In the semi-finals and final, if the match is tied a Super Over is played. If the Super Over is a tie, then subsequent Super Overs shall be played until there is a winner, reported cricket.com.au. Unless exceptional circumstances arise, there shall be an unlimited number of Super Overs played to achieve a result.

If we have more than one Super Over, any batter that is dismissed is ineligible to return in the following Super Over, and a bowler cannot bowl two Super Overs in a row.

No-ball technology

Front-foot no ball technology will be used for the first time in a global cricket tournament later this month at the women’s T20 World Cup in Australia. The television umpire will monitor the landing position of the front foot after every ball and tell the on-field umpires if a bowler oversteps.

Umpires have often had to call back batsmen in recent years following TV replays which have revealed no balls. But the ICC said recent trials in India and the West Indies of using a TV official for every ball resulted in 100 percent of 4,717 deliveries being judged accurately.

Like in 2018, the tournament will witness the use of Decision Review System. All matches are broadcast live by Star Sports in India.

(With ICC inputs)