Photo Credit: Sydney Thunder
Tournament begins on Friday 21 February at Sydney Showground Stadium
Four stars of the Thunder Nation are set to feature in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, beginning in Sydney on Friday 21 February.
>> FANS GUIDE TO THE WOMEN’S T20 WORLD CUP
Thunder skipper Rachael Haynes will be action for reigning champions Australia in the opening match of the tournament against India at Sydney Showground Stadium.
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International recruits Nida Dar, Shabnim Ismail and Rachel Priest will line up for Pakistan, South African and New Zealand respectively.
Thunder made history last year with the signing of Dar, who was the first woman from Pakistan to sign a deal with an overseas cricket league.
The all-rounder claimed 13 wickets from 11 matches in WBBL|05 and contributed 99 runs with the bat down the order.
Ismail made a successful return to the WBBL after playing two matches for the Melbourne Renegades in WBBL|01 as a Replacement Player.
The South African quick made the most of the opportunity with Thunder, taking 10 wickets at an economy of 5.88 with best figures of 3/14.
Big-hitting opener Priest has scored 858 runs in her three seasons at Thunder at a team-high strike rate of 126.12.
Her presence behind the stumps was crucial for Thunder in WBBL|05, with the New Zealand keeper completing a league-high 13 dismissals.
Former Thunder stars Harmanpreet Kaur and Stafanie Taylor will also be in action across Australia.
The pair will captain their respective nations, with Kaur leading India and Taylor leading the West Indies.
How to watch
Tickets are on sale now, with adult tickets starting from $20 and kids from $5. Click here to secure your seats.
Kayo and Fox Cricket will carry every game of the World Cup, while the Nine Network will broadcast free-to-air coverage of every Australian game on GEM, selected other matches and both semi-finals and the final.
Teams
This year’s T20 World Cup is a 10-team competition, split into two groups of five.
Each team will play the other four sides in their group, and the top two teams at the end of the group stage advance to the semi-finals.
Making up Group A are Australia, India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – a very tough group where all of the first three would be bitterly disappointed to miss out on a spot in the semi-finals.
In Group B, England are joined by South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan and Thailand, who are making their World Cup debut.
A win earns two points, a loss none and a tie, no result or abandoned match will earn a single point. There are no bonus points.
Both semi-finals will be played as a double-header at the Sydney Cricket Ground on March 5, before the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 8, which is also International Women’s Day.
Australia have won four of the six T20 World Cups to date and go in as defending champions and the world’s top-ranked team.
Fixtures
There are 22 games in total in this tournament. For a full list of all World Cup fixtures, click here.
>> FANS GUIDE TO THE WOMEN’S T20 WORLD CUP
Name of Author: Sydney Thunder
The Sydney Thunder is an Australian professional cricket team competing in the Big Bash League (BBL). Based at Sydney Showground Stadium, the Thunder, along with the Sydney Sixers, succeeded the New South Wales Blues from the defunct KFC Twenty20 Big Bash.
