Group phase head and crunch time

As Australia has already secured its place in the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s World Cup, with its most successful running pursuit in the event against India, all eyes are now on the remaining three places as the teams go to the must-win meetings.

Bangladesh, as debutants of the World Cup, were not tipped to compete for the top four places. However, their first win of the event kept them in contention, at least on paper, despite finishing seventh in the table, with two points and four games played so far.

The victory over Pakistan, which had already been knocked out, was well deserved by the Tigresses, but the narrow four-run loss against West Indies in their previous outing meant that Bangladesh had to pull off three consecutive upsets against India, Australia and England in that order. , to qualify for the final four.

India has so far had an inconsistent run. Despite great victories over Pakistan and the West Indies, the losses to New Zealand, England and Australia meant that their fate was no longer in their own hands.

South Africa, so far, have collected eight points, which may be the threshold for the semi-final qualifiers. Thus, the West Indies will look to reach the checkpoint by beating Pakistan, while New Zealand, with four points, and England, with two points, can not afford to lose because they beat the horns today.