Date, fixtures, odds and everything to know about the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup

The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup finally gets underway this week, after the tournament was postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

England are the defending champions, having famously beaten India by nine runs at Lord’s back in 2017. 

The likes of Heather Knight, Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver were all part of that tournament winning side and will once again be key figures for England in this competition. 

Covid related complications have once again provided logistical difficulties, but organisers have implemented new guidelines for teams to follow. 

Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s event:

The 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup will be the 12th edition of the tournament and will feature eight countries.

Matches will be played in the one-day international format and all eight teams will play each other in a round-robin. 

After the completion of this stage, the top four teams will battle it out in the semi-finals, before a winner is crowned in the final. 

The eight teams involved consist of: New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and West Indies. 

This year’s event will be held in New Zealand, which has seen a surge in Omicron Covid cases of late. 

Last Friday, the country reported a record 12,011 community cases, which has raised fears over the impact this will have on the tournament. 

Owing to this, it was announced last week that teams will be able to field as little as nine players if necessary. 

Six venues will be used in total. These include the Hagley Oval, Eden Park, Bay Oval, Seddon Park, Basin Reserve and the University Oval. 

Eden Park is the biggest of the stadiums with a capacity of 42,000, but the Hagley Oval will host the final.