England and Australia can lay down marker in their Women’s World Cup opener

The countdown clock in the centre of Christchurch has ticked down to less than one day until the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 officially begins.

Once the minutes reach zero, England’s grip on the World Cup trophy will loosen as seven teams challenge them for the title – with world No1 Australia leading the way.

2017 champions England are third in the world rankings and have to put a winless Ashes series behind them as they take on the old enemy in their first match of the World Cup on Saturday at 1am GMT.

England captain Heather Knight and her opposite number Meg Lanning have been trading quips at press conferences on which team is the favourite, but on Saturday one side could take a large step to proving the other right.

The eight teams play each other once to decide the make-up of the semi-finals and India, South Africa and hosts New Zealand are hot on their tails as they look to become the first team since the Kiwis back in 2000 to knock Australia or England off the top spot at an ODI World Cup.

New Zealand, led by captain Sophie Devine’s imperious 161 not out, defeated Australia by nine wickets in their final warm-up match showing that the Southern Stars can be defeated, even if they have only lost one ODI in their past 30.

The Australian camp have also been rocked by the positive Covid test for 2022 Belinda Clark medalist Ashleigh Gardner who will miss at least the first two matches of the tournament.

The day after six-time champions Australia and England battle it out in Hamilton the eyes of the world will turn to Tauranga where India play Pakistan, with both searching for a first World Cup title.

India have reached the final twice having done so in 2005 and 2017 and victory would, for many, make it