The tournament of close games
One of the biggest talking points of the tournament was how a number of matches went down to the wire. Teams batting first won five times by a margin of fewer than ten runs, while the chasing teams got over the line in the final over four times. Nine of the 30 completed matches in this edition were either won in the last over by the chasing side or by a margin of fewer than ten runs. Before the 2022 Women’s World Cup, there have been only 12 such results, and no more than three in any edition.
Australia’s dominance
Australia started the tournament as clear favourites on the back of an impeccable record in the format since the previous World Cup. Between the 2017 and 2022 editions, Australia won 31 of the 33 ODIs they played, including a record of 26 consecutive wins. Their performance was no less than the expectations from them, as they ended up winning all nine matches on their way to the seventh ODI World Cup title.
The tournament was slightly on the high-scoring side with 18 250-plus totals being recorded, including four 300-plus scores, both the most in a World Cup edition. However, the aggregate run rate of the tournament was 4.68, a decimal point lower than it was in the 2017 edition (4.69).
Though the run rates were similar, boundaries were tough to come by in New Zealand. The boundary lengths could have contributed to this, as the ropes were not brought in at any venue. A boundary was hit every 13.45 balls in this tournament, while it was 11.44 in the 2017 edition, and 12.86 in the ODIs between the two World Cups.
The sixes dried up further – only 52 were hit across the 31 matches this time, less than half of the 111 sixes in the 2017 edition, and less than the tally of the 2013 World Cup (67 sixes) as well. The balls-per-six ratio in this tournament was 307.46, higher than the 2009 edition (279.51). It resulted in a steep increase in the batting strike rate on non-boundary balls – from 40.86 in 2017 to 46.58 in 2022.
Australia’s success with the bat would not be possible without the contributions from their opening pair of Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes, who had three century stands, including two in the knockouts. Healy and Haynes contributed 509 and 497 runs respectively in the tournament, the highest by anyone in a single edition of the Women’s World Cup. They did not even spare the leading wicket-taker of the tournament – Sophie Ecclestone.
Before 2022, the Women’s World Cups had witnessed only one successful chase of a 250-plus target: 258 by Australia against Sri Lanka in 2017. However, in this edition, the record was bettered three times (twice by Australia). Despite all those big chases and chasing being their preferred option, the teams did not see much success while batting second.
The pace bowlers and spinners were quite close at picking wickets throughout the tournament. The quick bowlers took 206 wickets while the spinners claimed 200 wickets. However, spinners edged out the seamers in average, strike rate and economy rates. Only South Africa’s bowling numbers were different – their quick bowlers took 47 wickets at 25.21, while their spinners bagged only four wickets at 120.25.