In a little under a month’s time, the best teams in women’s cricket will arrive in South Africa to contest the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
Ten teams are playing for the title, with the tournament taking place from the 10th to 26th of February 2023. We look at the main contenders in this event and break down why Australia are favourites to defend their title.
Understanding the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup
This edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup will be the eighth played since 2009. In that time, three teams have won the tournament, with England winning the inaugural edition, and the West Indies prevailing in 2016.
Outside of these two occasions, the tournament has been dominated by Australia, who have won the title five out of seven times, including the past two World Cups.
The 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup will have ten participants. South Africa gain qualification automatically as the host nation, while Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies qualify based on their global ranking.
Two additional teams, Bangladesh and Ireland, have qualified for the tournament through a qualification tournament.
The tournament will be played across three venues in South Africa, in Cape Town, Gqeberha and Paarl. Participants are split into two groups of five, with a round-robin determining which two teams from each group progress to the knockout stage of the tournament.
Australia overwhelming favourites at bookmakers
Having dominated the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup so severely over the past decade, it’s no surprise that Australia is the overwhelming favourites to collect their sixth title this February. Most major bookmakers have the team at somewhere between 1.70 and 1.80 to win the tournament.
Speaking of betting on the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, for free cricket betting tips head to Betting.com, where all of the latest information surrounding the tournament can be found. It doesn’t take a betting expert to see that Australia is well ahead of the next favourite team in this event, however.
The second favourite happens to be India, who are sitting around 4.33 in the odds at most major bookmakers. In the last ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, India made a strong run to the final, losing to eventual winners Australia.
They backed up that performance by meeting Australia last year in the Commonwealth Games Gold Medal match, where they narrowly lost by nine runs.
England look to bring spark to women’s game
While India may have some star players, England has the benefit of having previously won a Women’s World Cup in the past.
As well as this, it’s no secret that men’s cricket is thriving in England right now. Their national side is current T20 and ODI world champions, and the Test team is setting the world alight with their ultra-aggressive new style of play.
As the third favourite in the betting odds, can England upset Australia and India to win their second ICC Women’s T20 World Cup? All will be revealed in February.