The six storylines that will define the Women’s Cricket World Cup

Australia’s sunshine-clad, steely-eyed women’s cricket team are one of the most successful sporting XIs in history. They know how to win tournaments – they are seven-time ODI World Cup winners (and six-time T20 champions) – and they do it well, often a leap ahead of their rivals. This year looks no different. There’s the emergence of batter Phoebe Litchfield and all-rounder Annabel Sutherland. They have lost only four ODI games since crushing England’s dreams in 2022, and just smashed more than 400 (against India) for only the second time in their women’s one-day history. The first side since 1988 to defend their ODI title? You betcha.

After the horror-film Ashes defeat of last winter, a 16-0 catch-dropping steamrollering which cost both head coach Jon Lewis and captain Heather Knight their jobs, the summer passed relatively calmly. The selectors bowed to the inevitable and appointed all-time great Charlotte Edwards as head coach and best player Nat Sciver-Brunt as captain. Edwards has favoured brains over biffing, stressed the importance of fitness and fielding, and brutally culled Kate Cross from the World Cup squad, while retaining the experience of Knight, who has recovered from injury, and bringing back Danni Wyatt-Hodge. And, more than anything, she expects that “if we play our best, we can beat any team”.

A revised schedule was announced in late August, which included the wholesale switching of games, much to the frustration of travelling and local fans. The all-important opening match moved to Guwahati after original host Bengaluru was struck off following the stampede that led to 11 deaths during RCB’s IPL victory celebrations. Navi Mumbai became the late call-up fourth venue and will host the semi-final and, potentially, the final if Pakistan don’t reach the final two. Pakistan will play all their matches in co-host Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo due to ongoing geopolitical tensions. The big question is if the fanbase for women’s cricket outside India’s big cricket centres is established enough to make up for all the hokey-cokey.

As far as most England fans were concerned, Sophie Ecclestone walked on water. She was Heather Knight’s blonde ponytailed trump card, who rattled through the opposition and put the brakes on their scoring. Until, that is, last winter’s Ashes, when she finished as England’s leading wicket-taker but refused an interview with the BBC’s Alex Hartley after a row over the England team’s fitness. The incident blew up and Ecclestone was heavily criticised for the first time in her career. Ecclestone took a break from cricket and, left out of the one-day side against the West Indies, considered quitting. Happily for England, she stayed and travels keen for both wickets and rehabilitation.

The ICC’s “global partner” deal with fossil-fuel giant Aramco means that its sponsorship will be everywhere at the World Cup, despite a number of women’s cricketers expressing dismay at previous tournaments. Air pollution from burning fossil fuels has been shown to disproportionately affect women, increasing the risk of developing breast cancer and heart disease as well as proving particularly dangerous during pregnancy. It is impossible to see how the sponsorship goes hand in hand with the ICC’s promise to support women in cricket.

England’s Enid Bakewell sold homegrown potatoes from a decorating table at the top of her drive to raise funds to play in the first Women’s World Cup. Fifty-two years later, there is a £10.26m prize pot, a four-fold increase from the 2022 competition. The winners will take home £3.3m – more than Australia’s men got for the equivalent competition in 2023. And yet, some things remain the same. The ICC board is still completely male after Indra Nooyi’s term ended last year. And the ICC’s proud announcement that the competition would be presided over by an all-female umpiring panel for the first time drew the wrath of historian Raf Nicholson, who pointed out that the 1973 event was also entirely umpired by women.

England’s World Cup games

3 Oct v South Africa, Guwahati, 10.30am

7 Oct v Bangladesh, Guwahati, 10.30am

11 Oct v Sri Lanka, Colombo, 10.30am

15 Oct v Pakistan, Colombo, 10.30am

19 Oct v India, Indore, 10.30am

22 Oct v Australia, Indore, 10.30am

26 Oct v New Zealand, Visakhapatnam, 5.30am

All games live on Sky Sports

Photograph by Philip Brown/Getty Images