Friday, 22 December 2023
England XI Women were proclaimed winners of the first ever Women’s European Cricket Championship (ECC-W) at the Cártama Oval on Friday 22 December.
The English players beat Netherlands Women by 17 runs in the final, repeating the result of the men’s competition held just two months previously at the same venue in the souther of Spain.
Earlier on Friday, Spain were knocked out by Italy who then went on to play Netherlands in the qualifier. Netherlands beat Italy by 26 runs, gaining a place in the final against England.
The women’s tournament follows the same format as the men’s competition, adopting the fast-paced T10 form for the first time in a women’s championship.
As of Thursday afternoon, England XI were top of the table with 28 points, seven wins from eight matches. In second place were the Dutch, with 23 points after six wins from eight games. Italy, Austria and Spain are the other teams in the competition.
The landmark event kicked off on Sunday 17 December, with four matches each day until the final day today, Friday, when there will be three matches: an eliminator, a qualifier and the final.
Netherlands and England have been the dominant teams throughout the week, with both nations only losing one game, before they faced each other on Thursday afternoon when the English side took the victory.
Italy have been the next most-promising side, notching five wins from eight games and 21 points. Meanwhile the hosts, Spain, failed to make the most of home ground advantage, and were yet to pick up a single victory by Thursday afternoon. In the end Spain took up the fourth place for the final day after tying with fellow stragglers Austria and winning the golden ball.
Batting stars
Batswoman Iris Zwilling has starred for the Dutch throughout the week; by the end of the tournament she had picked up 409 runs for her country, leading the table for the top scorers. She had the top score of the competition so far in a single game with 102 not out, and an impressive batting average of 96.50.
Italian Methnara Rathnayake was in second with 300 runs, Dutch player Robine Rijke chalked up 270 runs and Spaniard Naomi Hillman-Bermejo was fourth with 270. England’s top batswoman was Ria Fackrell, scoring 147 runs, putting her sixth on the leaderboard.
The top-three for wicket-takers in the competitionwere: Brit Chiara Green who took the most with nine, followed by Italian Emilia Bartram (also 9) and Dutch player Robine Rijke (8).
The European Cricket Network (ECN) has been hosting a variety of women’s T20Is for the past two years, and with the success of the men’s competition, introducing a women’s tournament “made complete sense” for ECN founder Daniel Weston.
The new ECC-W could be even more than just a tournament, and represent a new era not only for women’s cricket but for cricket as a whole as it enters the European market, he added.
The faster-paced format includes a 45-metre boundary to encourage more fours and sixes, providing more entertainment for spectators. The competition is being shown by 10 different broadcasters, including on the European Cricket Network, and broadcast to millions worldwide.