It’s a gorgeous country to be in and it’s been nice to spend some time here acclimatising and playing some warm-up games versus New Zealand. Equally we were able to go and support our England Women U19 team, who made the ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup final, which was a fantastic experience and overall a fantastic competition.

Since we last took part in an ICC tournament Jon Lewis has come into our group as Head Coach and with it he’s brought additional clarity about how we want to play our cricket. We want to be aggressive, we want to choose the positive option when the game’s in the balance and we want to entertain and inspire.

He was involved with both the England Men’s white-ball team under Eoin Morgan and, more recently, the England Men’s Test team under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, and he’s seen first-hand the positivity that can be created when you’re able to successfully shift a team’s mindset and embrace walking towards the danger. That’s our aim.

We enjoyed the West Indies tour and it’s been great to see so many players putting up their hands, vying for selection and taking on-board how we want to play our cricket.

Last summer we had a few players out, myself included, and while that was tough from a performance point of view it was quite valuable in terms of exposing some of our younger players and giving them the opportunity to showcase their skill on the big stage.

That’s led to a group of younger players coming to the fore and that’s an exciting sign for our future. The likes of Charlie Dean, Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey and Maia Bouchier have their first shot at an ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, which we know they’ll relish.

As well as that we’ve got a lot of senior players eager for T20 success! We haven’t lifted the trophy since 2009 and we’d quite like to put that right. We felt in a great place in 2020 before the rain intervened at Sydney but in many ways that feels like a lifetime ago, with COVID-19 entering the mix soon after.

We know on our day that we can be a match for anyone, our job now is to ensure we have our day as regularly as possible – to keep being aggressive, taking the game forward and backing our strengths.

With thanks to the ICC

An opening match at Tauranga’s Bay Oval and a final under lights at Hagley Oval are two of the highlights of a 31-match schedule announced today for ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022.

The pinnacle event for women’s cricket will see 31 matches played across 31 action-packed days between 4 March and 3 April 2022 – the first global women’s cricket event to be played since the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia back in March. The tournament was postponed from its original window in February-March 2021 with the same six host cities and venues retained for 2022.

Eight of the world’s best cricket nations will go head-to-head in six host cities across Aotearoa: Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin.

Highlights of the match schedule announced today include:

• A bumper opening match in Tauranga featuring the White Ferns and a qualifier on Friday, 4 March. Tauranga also hosts the rematch of the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup final at Lord’s with England up against India on Wednesday, 16 March.
• Dunedin’s University Oval, the home of global superstar Suzie Bates, to host three pool matches, with reigning champions England, hometown favourites, the WHITE FERNS and South Africa on show.
• Hamilton’s Seddon Park will host seven pool matches, with staunch rivals Australia and England kicking off the city’s matches. India and South Africa will both take on the host nation’s White Ferns in Hamilton.
• The iconic Basin Reserve will host a Trans-Tasman showdown between Australia and New Zealand on Sunday, 13 March, as well as five other pool matches and the first semi-final of the tournament
• A massive double-header weekend in Auckland sees India taking on Australia on Saturday, 19 March, before the White Ferns face England the following day.
• Christchurch to host the final on 3 April under lights at Hagley Oval on the back of three pool matches and a semi-final.

The much-anticipated Hagley Oval lights were switched on for the first time by Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Grant Robertson at the announcement, with key Canterbury Cricket Trust, Canterbury Cricket Association and Christchurch city representatives in attendance.

White Ferns veteran and Canterbury Magicians representative Amy Satterthwaite attended the announcement at Hagley Oval.

Satterthwaite said: “As a born-and-bred Cantabrian, it’s fantastic to see the Hagley Oval lights up and running. To play in a World Cup at our own stomping ground here in Christchurch, under lights, would be a real career highlight.

“It was hard to watch the T20 Women’s Cricket World Cup from the sidelines back in March (after giving birth in January) so seeing the match schedule all locked in for the ODI World Cup here in 2022 gives both myself and the rest of the team a target to strive for as we prepare over the next 16 months.”

South Africa captain Dane van Niekerk says playing in a World Cup will be a memorable occasion. “Any time you get the chance to play for your country and wear the Proteas on your jersey it’s an honour.

“I have been fortunate to have the opportunity before to play at a Women’s Cricket World Cup, but every new time is more special than the last. Every young cricket player dreams of playing for their country at the highest level, and we are definitely looking forward to the CWC22 in New Zealand,” she said.

Mithali Raj, captain India is also looking forward to leading her team to a win at the World Cup. Raj said: “We have all been through a very difficult year and are happy to be getting back at playing the game we all love. India has been doing very well at ICC tournaments in the past three or four years, whether you talk about the (ODI) World Cup or the recently concluded T20 World Cup, and if we manage to win the tournament in 2022, it will be a massive inspiration for the next generation of girls, as the fifty-over format, is considered the pinnacle for any cricketer. I can assure you the team and I are looking forward to it.”

Sports fans across all six host cities will get a taste of the White Ferns action with key match-ups taking place in each city.

The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 will be the first of two major cricket tournaments across the globe in 2022 – the other being the Commonwealth Games in England.
Prize money for the showpiece of women’s international cricket will total NZD$5.5million, and all matches will be broadcast live to a huge global audience.

ICC CEO, Manu Sawhney said: “The ICC has made a long-term commitment to elevating women’s cricket as part of our strategy to grow and develop the global game.

“We want to build a sustainable foundation for women’s cricket. It is about building a product that fans want to watch, that kids want to take up, that sponsors and broadcasters want to be part of. This schedule takes the world’s best cricketers across New Zealand and can help inspire a generation of girls and boys to take up the game.

“We are extremely proud of the significant progress we have made in increasing prize money for ICC events over the last few years, with the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand having $NZD5.5 million dollars available in prize money, an increase of almost 60% on 2017 and more than 1000% compared to 2013.”

With the match schedule now locked in, ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup CEO Andrea Nelson is excited to see the country get behind the event. “Our team is proud to be delivering a tournament where Kiwis across the whole country, in each of our six host cities, can really get involved in what is a truly special event. We can’t wait to see the excitement build around New Zealand as we prepare to roll out the welcome mat for the rest of the world.

“Major events like this one are all about creating a genuine legacy for the sport and we are proud to say our tournament was the catalyst for the installation of the Hagley Oval lights. I’d like to thank the New Zealand Government and the Canterbury Cricket Trust for making that happen.”

New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa and India have qualified for the World Cup. The three remaining teams will emerge from the ICC qualifying tournament which is confirmed to take place 26 June – 10 July 2021 in Sri Lanka.

The eight-team round-robin format will see all teams play each other, with the top four teams qualifying for semi-finals.

ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 at a glance

• Hosted in New Zealand from 4 March to 3 April, 2022
• Eight nations
• 31 matches
• 6 host cities: Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin

Tournament fixtures by venue:
*denotes day/night

Bay Oval, Tauranga

Fri 04 Mar 2022 New Zealand v Qualifier*
Sun 06 Mar 2022 Qualifier v India*
Tue 08 Mar 2022 Australia v Qualifier *
Fri 11 Mar 2022 Qualifier v South Africa*
Mon 14 Mar 2022 South Africa v England*
Wed 16 Mar 2022 England v India*
Fri 18 Mar 2022 Qualifier v Qualifier

University Oval, Dunedin

Sat 05 Mar 2022 Qualifier v South Africa
Mon 07 Mar 2022 New Zealand v Qualifier
Wed 09 Mar 2022 Qualifier v England

Seddon Park, Hamilton

Sat 05 Mar 2022 Australia v England*
Thu 10 Mar 2022 New Zealand v India*
Sat 12 Mar 2022 Qualifier v India*
Mon 14 Mar 2022 Qualifier v Qualifier
Thu 17 Mar 2022 New Zealand v South Africa*
Mon 21 Mar 2022 Qualifier v Qualifier*
Tue 22 Mar 2022 India v Qualifier*

Basin Reserve, Wellington

Sun 13 Mar 2022 New Zealand v Australia
Tue 15 Mar 2022 Australia v Qualifier
Tue 22 Mar 2022 South Africa v Australia
Thu 24 Mar 2022 South Africa v Qualifier
Fri 25 Mar 2022 Qualifier v Australia
Sun 27 Mar 2022 England v Qualifier
Wed 30 Mar 2022 Semi-Final 1

Eden Park, Auckland

Sat 19 Mar 2022 India v Australia*
Sun 20 Mar 2022 New Zealand v England

Hagley Oval, Christchurch

Thu 24 Mar 2022 England v Qualifier*
Sat 26 Mar 2022 New Zealand v Qualifier
Sun 27 Mar 2022 India v South Africa*
Thu 31 Mar 2022 Semi-Final 2*
Sun 03 Apr 2022 FINAL*

For more information on the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 and to pre-register for tickets, visit icc-cricket.com/cwc22

Courtesy of the ICC

The decisions were taken by the IBC (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC) following an extensive contingency planning exercise which has taken into account the health, cricket and commercial impact of COVID-19 around the world.

ICC Acting Chairman Imran Khwaja said: “Over the last few months as we have considered how we return to staging global events, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in ICC events.

“The decisions the Board have taken today are in the best interests of the sport, our partners and importantly our fans. I’d like to thank our partners at the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket New Zealand as well as the Australian and New Zealand governments for their continued support and commitment to a safe return to ICC events.”

ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said: “We now have absolute clarity on the future of ICC events enabling all of our Members to focus on the rescheduling of lost international and domestic cricket. We will now proceed as planned with the Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 in India and host the 2022 edition in Australia.

“We have taken the decision to move the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup to give players from every competing nation, the best opportunity to be ready for the world’s biggest stage and there is still a global qualifier to complete to decide the final three teams.

“There has been no women’s international cricket played since the conclusion of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup earlier this year and due to the varying impact of COVID-19 globally that is likely to remain the situation for a number of the teams. Moving the event by 12 months gives all competing teams the chance to play a sufficient level of cricket ahead of both the qualification event and leading into a Cricket World Cup so the integrity of the tournament is maintained.”

The format of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will remain as it was for 2020 and all teams that qualified for that event will now participate in India in 2021. A new qualification process will be run for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.

The format of the postponed ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup will remain as it was for 2021. Five teams have already qualified for the event and that will stand for 2022. The original global qualification event to determine the final three teams to contest the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup was scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in July 2020, but this was postponed due to COVID-19. The qualification event will now be held in 2021.