New Zealand are knocked out of the 2020 ICC Women’s Twenty20 Cup with defeat to reigning champions Australia today in Melbourne. This is a third consecutive ICC Event where the White Ferns have failed to reach the semi finals along with the 2017 Womens World Cup in England and 2018 Women’s World Twenty20 in West Indies where they also fell short of making the last four. In all of those events they experienced a defeat to India in the pool stages which cost them dearly.
It could have been a special day for New Zealand Cricket with the Blackcaps wrapping up a 2-0 Test series victory in Christchurch earlier in the day. However, Sophie Devine’s side weren’t able to knockout the Southern Stars in a virtual quarter final later in the day. It was a missed opportunity for the Kiwis. New Zealand will now turn their attention to the 2021 Women’s ODI World Cup which they host this time next year.
They have performed poorly in the ICC Women’s ODI Championship too and will need to lift their game before they host the World Cup early next year. Last time the Women’s World Cup was held in New Zealand was in 2000 and that is the only world title the White Ferns have won in the women’s game up to now.
However, New Zealand did only experience narrow defeats to India and Australia in this tournament. On both occasions they fell just one scoring shot short of reaching their required target.
Pakistan on the other hand, will be looking for a consolation victory over Thailand to finish as the best non qualifier from their group tomorrow before flying back home. Their focus now shifts to the Women’s ODI World Cup in 2021 where they have never ever won a game in three of the four ODI World Cup tournaments they’ve participated in in 1997, 2013 and 2017 respectively.
Pakistan in Women’s World Cup
1997 = Won 0 out of 5. Captain was Shaiza Khan.
2009 = Won 1 out of 3. Captain was Urooj Mumtaz.
2013 = Won 0 out of 4. Captain was Sana Mir.
2017 = Won 0 out of 7. Captain was Sana Mir.
2021 = ???? in New Zealand.
Pakistan in Women’s Twenty20 World Cup
2016 = Beat India and Bangladesh. Captain was Sana Mir.
2018 = Beat Ireland. Captain was Javeria Khan.
2020 = Beat West Indies. Captain was Bismah Maroof.
2022 = ???? in South Africa.
They also have the 2022 Commonwealth games to aim towards which is phenomenally exciting for the profile of Women’s Cricket. It will be a T20 event. Pakistan have experienced gold medal success in the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games.
But the fact of the matter remains that Pakistan have now played 10 world events in a row since 2009 where they’ve not made the semi finals. I’m excluding the 1997 Women’s World Cup in India that Pakistan participated in given they were vastly inexperienced in the international circuit at the time and it was a mere miracle how they even managed to get a team together to play in it given the non existence of women’s cricket in Pakistan up until the mid 1990s. It is time to start producing.
Interesting game tomorrow between South Africa and West Indies. Losing for South Africa could be a blessing in disguise to avoid the might of Australia in the semi finals. They’d rather face India deep down by finishing second in the pool. India have been chokers in women’s knockout encounters historically. In fact in all cricket you could say since 2014: losing 9 ICC semi finals or finals across men’s, women’s and U19 cricket.
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