GOOGLE DOODLE ON MARCH 4: Today’s Google Doodle marks the Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 that officially gets underway in New Zealand on Friday, March 4. The 12th edition of the Women’s ODI World Cup will start at 6:30 am IST with the host nation New Zealand takes on West Indies at the Bay Oval.
If you go to Google home page and search for Women’s Cricket World Cup, you will see cricket balls on your screen moving from left to right. You can click on confetti popper at the bottom of the Google page to see it again.
LIVE UPDATES: ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 Game 1, New Zealand vs West Indies, Live Updates From Bay Oval Mount Maunganui
The world’s first international cricket match took place in 1844 between Canada and the United States. The first women’s World Cup tournament was held in 1973, also won by this year’s defending champions, England.
A total of eight teams are competing this season. New Zealand qualified by virtue of being the hosts, while Australia, India, England, and South Africa booked their slots by finishing among the top five teams in the Women’s Championship, held between 2017 and 2021. The other three teams were decided by the ICC ODI rankings of the teams, hence Pakistan, West Indies, and Bangladesh made it through.
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There are a total of 31 matches in this tournament and six venues will play host. University Oval in Dunedin, Eden Park in Auckland, Hagley Oval in Christchurch, Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, Seddon Park in Hamilton, and the Basin Reserve in Wellington. While the semi-finals will be played in Wellington, Hagley Oval in Christchurch will host the final.
ICC has assured that they have done away with the need for strict biosecure bubbles and daily Covid-19 tests. Covid-19 testing will be infrequent, but it won’t be held on a daily basis. The tournament will be held in a “managed environment”.
In the opening matches of the tournament, venues are allowed to be filled with 10% of the capacity. However, the organisers are hoping that the limit will be increased as the tournament progresses.
All eyes will be on Indian skipper Mithali Raj who is set to become the first player to feature in six editions of the Women’s World Cup. Also, Mithali who has scored 1139 runs, is 362 runs away from Debbie Hockley’s record for most runs in world cups. She is also three matches shy of becoming the skipper who leads the side in most World Cup games.
Another record Indians are looking forward to is for Jhulan Goswami. The bowler is presently on 36 wickets and needs to scalp four more to become the leading wicket-taker in Women’s World Cup history. Notably, Raj and Jhulan are playing their last World Cup.
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