England have got their 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup qualification campaign off to a strong start by recording a 2-0 Royal London ODI series victory against India in the inaugural round of the ICC Women’s Championship (WC).
With two points awarded for a win and the points shared in the event of a tie or no-result, Charlotte Edwards and her England side have secured five points in their opening three matches – beating India by 42 runs (D/L method) and 13 runs at Scarborough Cricket Club last week, and sharing the points in a rain abandoned match at Lord’s today.
The ICC WC involves the top eight ranked women’s teams in the world and over the next two years all teams will play each other in a three-match ODI series either at home or away to create an ICC WC league table.
The top four teams will qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup in England in 2017. Countries finishing in the bottom four will take part in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in early 2017 against teams from the ICC’s regional structures to determine the final four participants for the event.
Speaking immediately after the final Royal London ODI was abandoned at Lord’s today, England Women’s captain, Charlotte Edwards, said: “This has been a very professional performance by the girls.
“India showed what a strong side they are during the Kia Women’s Test Match and I am really pleased with how quickly we bounced back from that disappointment and delivered when it counted in the ICC Women’s Championship matches.
“Clearly we would have liked to secure the full six points available from the three matches, but the rain here at Lord’s today hasn’t allowed that to happen.
“We are however happy to take five points into the next round of the ICC WC, and to be off to a strong start on the road to qualification for the 2017 World Cup.
“We still have three NatWest Twenty20 Internationals to play this summer against South Africa in September, so our focus will now be on winning that series.”
England Women will play a three match NatWest Twenty20 International series against South Africa Women starting on Monday September 1 at the Essex County Ground in Chelmsford.
The County Ground, Northampton will host the second T20I on Wednesday September 3 and the third match on Sunday September 7 will be played before the men’s England v India NatWest T20I at Edgbaston.
All three matches will be shown live on Sky Sports and live radio commentary will be provided by the BBC.