On International Women’s Day, International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the full match schedule for the upcoming Women’s World Cup, starting 24th June in England. India will face hosts England at Derby in their opener. The ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 will get underway with New Zealand facing Sri Lanka at Bristol. Reigning champions Australia will begin their title defence against West Indies at Taunton on June 26.
India, who won the qualifiers leading up to the event, are scheduled to face arch-rivals Pakistan on July 2. Mithali Raj’s side will then play South Africa in Leicester on July 8, and will play their final group game against New Zealand on July 15. The Indians will play four of their round-robin games in Derby
The tournament will see 28 matches being held over 21 days. Four of the eight participants will progress to the semi-finals, which will be held at Bristol and Derby. The final will be at Lord’s on July 23.
David Richardson, the ICC Chief Executive, said: “I can’t think of a better moment than International Women’s Day to unveil the schedule of one of the leading global events in women’s sport”
“We’ve already sold 9000 tickets for the final at Lord’s which bodes well for the rest of the event going on sale today. I know we can always count on the British sport loving public to support big events. After the extremely successful qualifying tournament in Sri Lanka last month, we can already see that there will be some fiercely contested fixtures as the standard and competitiveness of women’s cricket continues to rise,” he said.
