For the first time in women’s cricket history, a T20 World Cup final will take place with neither Australia nor England taking part. Instead, there will be a new name on the trophy as South Africa take on New Zealand in Dubai today.
For South Africa, it is their second consecutive final after finishing as runners-up last year, while New Zealand reached the final in 2009 and 2010 but lost both.
It has been a tournament full of shocks and surprises, as the almighty Australia, who had won six of the last seven T20 world titles, were thrashed in the semi-finals by South Africa, while neither England nor India made it out of the group stage.
So what did we learn about women’s cricket during this T20 World Cup?
The gap between the best and the rest is closing…
…but not by as much as results may suggest. This is the first World Cup final where neither Australia nor England have made it to the final. Combined with India’s (and England’s) failure to make it out of the group stage and a first-time winner to be crowned, it suggests that the gulf between the world’s best teams and the chasing pack is no longer as wide as it was.
Yet both England and Australia were knocked out after one-off aberrations in a competition where they had otherwise been dominant.
Finalists New Zealand came into the tournament on a run of 10 straight losses at the hands of England and Australia while Australia’s head-to-head record against Pakistan is 30-nil. England had beaten the West Indies on 13 consecutive occasions before their group-stage defeat.
This competition has shown that on their day, the rest are capable of beating the best. While this is progress, it does not reflect that wider domination still exists and that there is huge disparity in terms of funding and resources.
“Honestly speaking, we probably just don’t have it like a lot of the rest of the teams,” said West Indies captain Hayley Matthews after their semi-final loss to New Zealand. “Back home in the Caribbean, sometimes we don’t have facilities and a lot of our girls come from very humble beginnings.
“To be given this opportunity to come out here, represent your nation, and make a living out of it, for every single person it changes their lives.”
