ICC announces schedule for 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup; India to begin campaign on 6 March

India will open their campaign in the rescheduled Women’s ODI World Cup against a qualifier on 6 March, 2022 at Tauranga’s Bay Oval in New Zealand, according to the 31-match schedule announced by the ICC on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_9112371” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Sir Richard Hadlee poses with the Women’s World Cup trophy in Christchurch. ICC Media[/caption] India have two more matches against qualifiers on 12 and 22 March at Seddon Park, Hamilton in the eight-team round-robin format event. Among the marquee games, Tauranga will host the rematch of the 2017 Women’s World Cup final at Lord’s with India taking on England on 16 March. India will then face Australia at Eden Park, Auckland on 19 March, before locking horns with South Africa on 27 March at Hagley Oval, Christchurch. The event, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic from its original window in February-March 2021 with the same six host cities and venues retained, will be held between 4 March and 3 April 2022. The first global women’s cricket event to be played since the T20 World Cup in Australia in March, it will feature eight of the world’s best nations going head-to-head across Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. “We have all been through a very difficult year and are happy to be getting back at playing the game we all love,” India captain Mithali Raj said in an ICC release. “India has been doing very well at ICC tournaments in the past three or four years, whether you talk about the (ODI) World Cup or the recently concluded T20 World Cup. “… if we manage to win the tournament in 2022, it will be a massive inspiration for the next generation of girls, as the fifty-over format, is considered the pinnacle for any cricketer. I can assure you the team and I are looking forward to it.” According to the schedule, the Basin Reserve in Wellington and the Hagley Oval in Christchurch will host the semi-finals with the latter also set to to host the final under lights on 3 April, 2022. The tournament-opener will be held in Tauranga featuring the White Ferns and a qualifier on 4 March. Besides India, New Zealand, Australia, England and South Africa have qualified for the World Cup. The three remaining teams will emerge from the ICC qualifying tournament which will be held from 26 June to 10 July  in Sri Lanka next year. It will be the first of two major cricket tournaments across the globe in 2022 the other being the Commonwealth Games in England. “This schedule takes the world’s best cricketers across New Zealand and can help inspire a generation of girls and boys to take up the game,” ICC CEO, Manu Sawhney said. The prize money for the showpiece will total $5.5 million, an increase of almost 60 percent on 2017 and more than 1000 percent compared to 2013. All matches will be broadcast live to a huge global audience. “The last five years have seen significant progress in women’s Cricket and recent success of the Women’s T20 challenge is an indicator of the same,” Sanjog Gupta, Head of Star India which will broadcast the event, said. “The broadcast of the ICC Women’s World Cup has grown leaps and bounds. The 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup Final, one of the highest-rated sporting events of that year with a cumulative reach of 95 million, is testament to the growing fandoms for women’s cricket in India,” he added. Full schedule of ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 (Venue-wise, * denotes day-night) Bay Oval, Tauranga 4 March, 2022: New Zealand v Qualifier* 6 March, 2022: Qualifier v India* 8 March, 2022: Australia v Qualifier * 11 March, 2022: Qualifier v South Africa* 14 March, 2022: South Africa v England* 16 March, 2022: England v India* 18 March, 2022: Qualifier v Qualifier University Oval, Dunedin 5 March, 2022: Qualifier v South Africa 7 March, 2022: New Zealand v Qualifier 9 March 2022: Qualifier v England Seddon Park, Hamilton 5 March, 2022: Australia v England* 10 March, 2022: New Zealand v India* 12 March, 2022: Qualifier v India* 14 March, 2022: Qualifier v Qualifier 17 March, 2022: New Zealand v South Africa* 21 March, 2022: Qualifier v Qualifier* 22 March, 2022: India v Qualifier* Basin Reserve, Wellington 13 March, 2022: New Zealand v Australia 15 March, 2022: Australia v Qualifier 22 March, 2022: South Africa v Australia 24 March, 2022: South Africa v Qualifier 25 March, 2022: Qualifier v Australia 27 March, 2022: England v Qualifier 30 March, 2022: Semi-Final 1 Eden Park, Auckland 19 March, 2022: India v Australia* 20 March, 2022: New Zealand v England Hagley Oval, Christchurch 24 March, 2022: England v Qualifier* 26 March, 2022: New Zealand v Qualifier 27 March, 2022: India v South Africa* 31 March, 2022: Semi-Final 2* 3 April, 2022: Final* With inputs from PTI