Women's Cricket World Cup facts for kids

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Women's Cricket World Cup
Administrator	International Cricket Council
Format	ODI
First edition	1973 England
Latest edition	2025 India Sri Lanka
Number of teams	8 (10 from 2029)
Current champion	India (1st title)
Most runs	Debbie Hockley (1,501)
Most wickets	Marizanne Kapp (44)

The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup is a big international cricket competition. It happens every four years. Teams play a special kind of cricket called One Day International. In this format, each team gets to bat for 50 overs. The International Cricket Council (ICC) organizes this exciting event.

The very first Women's Cricket World Cup took place in England in 1973. This was actually two years before the men's first World Cup! In the beginning, it was sometimes hard to find enough money for the tournaments. This meant some teams couldn't join, and there were sometimes long breaks between events. But since 2005, the World Cup has happened regularly every four years.

Teams earn their spot in the World Cup through special qualifying matches. For a long time, only eight teams competed. But the ICC announced that starting in 2029, ten teams will get to play! The 1997 tournament had the most teams ever, with eleven participating.

So far, thirteen Women's World Cups have been played in five different countries. India and England have hosted the event three times each. Australia is the most successful team, winning seven titles! England has won four times. New Zealand and India each won one title. The West Indies and South Africa have reached the final once but didn't win.

History of the Women's Cricket World Cup
- The Start of Women's Cricket
Past World Cup Events and Winners
Team Performances Over Time
- New Teams in the World Cup
Special Awards
- Player of the Tournament Winners
- Player of the Final Winners
Team Statistics and Records
- How Host Teams Performed
- How Defending Champions Performed
Amazing Tournament Records
More About Cricket

History of the Women's Cricket World Cup

The Start of Women's Cricket

Women's international cricket began a long time ago, in 1934. That year, a team from England traveled to play matches in Australia and New Zealand. The very first official Test match for women was played in December 1934. England won that historic game!

In 1971, people started talking about creating a World Cup just for women's cricket. A person named Jack Hayward was a big part of making this happen. Some countries were invited to play. However, South Africa was not invited because of its government's rules that were not fair to everyone at that time.

The first Women's Cricket World Cup happened in England in 1973. This was special because it was two years before the first men's Cricket World Cup was played! Teams like Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and a "Young England" team all played. There was also an "International XI" team.

The tournament was played in a round-robin style. This means every team played against every other team. The final match was between England and Australia. England won that exciting game by 92 runs in Birmingham. This made England the first-ever Women's Cricket World Cup champions!

Past World Cup Events and Winners

Fifteen teams have played in the Women's Cricket World Cup at least once. Four teams have competed in every tournament: England, Australia, New Zealand, and India. These are also the only teams that have won a title.

S.No.	Year	Host(s)	Final venue	Final			Teams	Winning Captain
S.No.	Year	Host(s)	Final venue	Winners	Result	Runners-up	Teams	Winning Captain
1	1973	England	No final	England 20 points	England won on points table	Australia 17 points	7	Rachael Heyhoe Flint
2	1978	India	No final	Australia 6 points	Australia won on points table	England 4 points	4	Margaret Jennings
3	1982	New Zealand	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	Australia 152/7 (59 overs)	Australia won by 3 wickets scorecard	England 151/5 (60 overs)	5	Sharon Tredrea
4	1988	Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	Australia 129/2 (44.5 overs)	Australia won by 8 wickets scorecard	England 127/7 (60 overs)	5	Sharon Tredrea
5	1993	England	Lord's, London	England 195/5 (60 overs)	England won by 67 runs scorecard	New Zealand 128 (55.1 overs)	8	Karen Smithies
6	1997	India	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	Australia 165/5 (47.4 overs)	Australia won by 5 wickets scorecard	New Zealand 164 (49.3 overs)	11	Belinda Clark
7	2000	New Zealand	Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln	New Zealand 184 (48.4 overs)	New Zealand won by 4 runs scorecard	Australia 180 (49.1 overs)	8	Emily Drumm
8	2005	South Africa	SuperSport Park, Centurion	Australia 215/4 (50 overs)	Australia won by 98 runs scorecard	India 117 (46 overs)	8	Belinda Clark
9	2009	Australia	North Sydney Oval, Sydney	England 167/6 (46.1 overs)	England won by 4 wickets scorecard	New Zealand 166 (47.2 overs)	8	Charlotte Edwards
10	2013	India	Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai	Australia 259/7 (50 overs)	Australia won by 114 runs scorecard	West Indies 145 (43.1 overs)	8	Jodie Fields
11	2017	England	Lord's, London	England 228/7 (50 overs)	England won by 9 runs scorecard	India 219 (48.4 overs)	8	Heather Knight
12	2022	New Zealand	Hagley Oval, Christchurch	Australia 356/5 (50 overs)	Australia won by 71 runs scorecard	England 285 (43.4 overs)	8	Meg Lanning
13	2025	India	DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai	India 298/7 (50 overs)	India won by 52 runs scorecard	South Africa 246 (45.3 overs)	8	Harmanpreet Kaur

Team Performances Over Time

This table shows how different teams have performed in past World Cups, up to the end of the 2025 tournament. Teams are listed by how well they did, then by how many times they played, how many games they won, and then alphabetically.

	Appearances				Statistics
Team	Total	First	Latest	Best performance	Mat.	Won	Lost	Tie	NR	Win%
Australia	13	1973	2025	Champions (1978, 1982, 1988, 1997, 2005, 2013, 2022)	100	85	12	1	2	86.73
England	13	1973	2025	Champions (1973, 1993, 2009, 2017)	100	67	29	2	2	68.36
New Zealand	13	1973	2025	Champions (2000)	94	55	34	2	3	60.43
India	11	1978	2025	Champions (2025)	79	42	34	1	2	54.54
South Africa	8	1997	2025	Runners-up (2025)	55	26	27	0	2	49.05
West Indies	8	1993	2022	Runners-up (2013)	46	16	28	0	1	34.78
Pakistan	6	1997	2025	Super 6s (2009)	37	3	31	0	3	8.82
Sri Lanka	7	1997	2025	Quarter-finals (1997) & Super 8s (2013)	41	9	29	0	2	23.68
Ireland	5	1988	2005	Quarter-finals (1997)	34	7	26	0	1	20.58
Netherlands	4	1988	2000	Quarter-finals (1997)	26	2	24	0	0	7.69
International XI^‡	2	1973	1982	First Round (1973, 1982)	18	3	14	0	1	16.66
Bangladesh	2	2022	2025	First Round (2022, 2025)	14	2	11	0	1	15.38
Denmark	2	1993	1997	First Round (1993, 1997)	13	2	11	0	0	15.38
Trinidad & Tobago^†	1	1973	1973	First Round (1973)	6	2	4	0	0	33.33
Young England^‡	1	1973	1973	First Round (1973)	6	1	5	0	0	16.66
Jamaica^†	1	1973	1973	First Round (1973)	5	1	4	0	0	20.00
Source: ESPNcricinfo

†These teams no longer have One Day International (ODI) status. ‡These teams no longer exist.

Legend

1st – Champions (won the tournament)
2nd – Runners-up (came in second place)
3rd – Third place
SF – Losing semi-finalist (made it to the semi-finals)
QF – Losing quarter-finalist (made it to the quarter-finals)
— Hosts (the country where the tournament was held)

Team	1973 (7)	1978 (4)	1982 (5)	1988 (5)	1993 (8)	1997 (11)	2000 (8)	2005 (8)	2009 (8)	2013 (8)	2017 (8)	2022 (8)	2025 (8)	Total
Australia	2nd	1st	1st	1st	3rd	1st	2nd	1st	4th	1st	SF	1st	SF	13
Bangladesh	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	7th	7th	2
Denmark	–	–	–	–	7th	9th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2
England	1st	2nd	2nd	2nd	1st	SF	5th	SF	1st	3rd	1st	2nd	SF	13
India	–	4th	4th	–	4th	SF	SF	2nd	3rd	7th	2nd	5th	1st	11
Ireland	–	–	–	4th	5th	QF	7th	8th	–	–	–	–	–	5
Netherlands	–	–	–	5th	8th	QF	8th	–	–	–	–	–	–	4
New Zealand	3rd	3rd	3rd	3rd	2nd	2nd	1st	SF	2nd	4th	5th	6th	6th	13
Pakistan	–	–	–	–	–	11th	–	–	5th	8th	8th	8th	8th	6
South Africa	–	–	–	–	–	QF	SF	7th	7th	6th	SF	SF	2nd	8
Sri Lanka	–	–	–	–	–	QF	6th	6th	8th	5th	7th	–	5th	7
West Indies	–	–	–	–	6th	10th	–	5th	6th	2nd	6th	SF	–	7
Defunct teams
International XI	4th	–	5th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2
Jamaica	6th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
Trinidad & Tobago	5th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
Young England	7th	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1

New Teams in the World Cup

This table shows which teams made their first appearance in each Women's Cricket World Cup.

Year	Teams
1973	Australia, England, New Zealand, International XI^‡, Jamaica^†, Trinidad and Tobago^†, Young England^‡
1978	India
1982	none
1988	Ireland, Netherlands
1993	Denmark, West Indies
1997	Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka
2000	none
2005	none
2009	none
2013	none
2017	none
2022	Bangladesh
2025	none

†These teams no longer have One Day International (ODI) status. ‡These teams no longer exist.

Special Awards

Player of the Tournament Winners

This award goes to the best player throughout the entire World Cup.

Year	Player	Performance details
1988	Carole Hodges	336 runs & 12 wickets
2000	Lisa Keightley	375 runs
2005	Karen Rolton	246 runs
2009	Claire Taylor	324 runs
2013	Suzie Bates	407 runs
2017	Tammy Beaumont	410 runs
2022	Alyssa Healy	509 runs
2025	Deepti Sharma	215 runs & 22 wickets

Player of the Final Winners

This award is given to the player who had the most outstanding performance in the final match of the World Cup.

Year	Player	Performance details
1993	Jo Chamberlain	38 (33) & 1/28 (9)
1997	Debbie Hockley	79 (121)
2000	Belinda Clark	91 (102)
2005	Karen Rolton	107* (128)
2009	Nicky Shaw	4/34 (8.2)
2013	Jess Cameron	75 (76)
2017	Anya Shrubsole	6/46 (9.4)
2022	Alyssa Healy	170 (138)
2025	Shafali Verma	87 (78) & 2/36 (7)

Team Statistics and Records

How Host Teams Performed

This table shows how well the host country's team did in each World Cup.

Year	Host Team	Finish
1973	England	Champions
1978	India	4th place
1982	New Zealand	3rd place
1988	Australia	Champions
1993	England	Champions
1997	India	Semi-finalists
2000	New Zealand	Champions
2005	South Africa	7th place
2009	Australia	4th place
2013	India	7th place
2017	England	Champions
2022	New Zealand	6th place
2025	India	Champions
2025	Sri Lanka	5th place

How Defending Champions Performed

This table shows how the team that won the previous World Cup performed in the next tournament.

Year	Defending champions	Finish
1978	England	Runners-up
1982	Australia	Champions
1988	Australia	Champions
1993	Australia	3rd place
1997	England	Semi-finalists
2000	Australia	Runners-up
2005	New Zealand	Semi-finalists
2009	Australia	4th place
2013	England	3rd place
2017	Australia	Semi-finalists
2022	England	Runners-up
2025	Australia	Semi-finalists
2029	India

Amazing Tournament Records

Here are some of the most impressive records from the Women's Cricket World Cup!

World Cup records
Batting Records
Most runs	Debbie Hockley	1,501	1982–2000
Highest average (at least 10 innings played)	Karen Rolton	74.92	1997–2009
Highest score in one game	Belinda Clark (against Denmark)	229*	1997
Highest partnership (two batters scoring together)	Tammy Beaumont & Sarah Taylor (against South Africa)	275	2017
Most runs in one tournament	Laura Wolvaardt	571	2025
Bowling Records
Most wickets (taking out batters)	Marizanne Kapp	44	2009–2025
Lowest average (at least 500 balls bowled)	Katrina Keenan	9.72	1997–2000
Best bowling figures (most wickets for fewest runs)	Alana King (against South Africa)	7/18	2025
Most wickets in one tournament	Lyn Fullston	23	1982
Fielding Records
Most dismissals (wicket-keeper) (catches and stumpings by the wicket-keeper)	Jane Smit	40	1993–2005
Most catches (by fielders)	Janette Brittin	19	1982–1997
Most catches (by fielders)	Suzie Bates	19	2009–2025
Team Records
Highest score by a team	Australia (against Denmark)	412/3	1997
Lowest score by a team	Pakistan (against Australia)	27	1997
Highest win percentage	Australia	86.73
Most Wins	Australia	85

More About Cricket

ICC Women's Championship
Women's T20 World Cup
ICC Women's Champions Trophy
Cricket World Cup

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