The 1978 Women's Cricket World Cup was an international cricket tournament played in India from 1 to 13 January 1978. Hosted by India for the first time, it was the second edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, after the inaugural 1973 World Cup in England.
The World Cup was the first international cricket tournament hosted by India. Only four teams participated, the lowest number in the tournament's history – Australia, England, India and New Zealand. The teams played a round-robin tournament of three matches each, with Australia going undefeated to claim its first title. Australia's captain, Margaret Jennings, led the tournament in runs, while her teammate, Sharyn Hill, led the tournament in wickets. Three of the five highest scorers as well as three of the five leading wicket-takers in the tournament were from Australia. Sharon Tredrea featured in both lists, being the second-highest wicket-taker and fourth-highest scorer of the tournament.Women's World Cup 1977/78 (ordered by runs) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 August 2015.Women's World Cup 1977/78 (ordered by wickets) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
Background It was originally proposed that South Africa host the World Cup, but this was abandoned to conform with the Apartheid-era sporting boycott of the country. The Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) then made a successful bid, and served as the primary organiser, with the International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC) providing only limited oversight.
Participating teams Along with India, which was making its debut, five other teams were originally invited – Australia, England, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the West Indies. The Netherlands and the West Indies, which had both not previously participated, were forced to withdraw due to financial issues.Abhishek Mukherjee (15 January 2014). "Australia Women lift 1978 World Cup — the tournament which was almost called off" – CricketCountry. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
Squads Information is only available for players who played at least one match at the tournament. Batting and fielding for Australia women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015. Batting and fielding for England women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015. Batting and fielding for India women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015. Batting and fielding for New Zealand women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015. Margaret Jennings (c) Elaine Bray Marie Cornish Valerie Farrell Lorraine Hill Sharyn Hill Wendy Hills Jan Lumsden Julie Stockton Raelee Thompson Janette Tredrea Sharon Tredrea Peta Verco Mary Pilling (c) Jacqueline Court Heather Dewdney Rosalind Heggs Shirley Hodges Glynis Hullah Megan Lear Catherine Mowat Lynne Thomas Chris Watmough Margaret Wilks Diana Edulji (c) Gargi Banerji Runa Basu Lopamudra Bhattacharji Sharmila Chakraborty Rajeshwari Dholakia Susan Itticheria Nilima Jogalekar Fowzieh Khalili Shubhangi Kulkarni Sandhya Mazumdar Ujwala Nikam Shobha Pandit Kalpan Paropkari Sudha Shah Anjali Sharma Trish McKelvey (c) Liz Allan Eileen Badham Barbara Bevege Vicki Burtt Pat Carrick Sheree Harris Cheryl Henshilwood Linda Lindsay Karen Marsh Sue Rattray Edna Ryan Viv Sexton
Venues
Warm-up matches At least five warm-up matches were played against various local Indian teams, all but one of which came before the tournament.Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
Group stage Points table
Note: run rate was to be used as a tiebreaker in the case of teams finishing on an equal number of points, rather than net run rate (as is now common).Shell Bicentennial Women's World Cup 1988/89 table – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
Matches New Zealand vs Australia
India vs England
New Zealand vs India
India vs Australia
New Zealand vs England
England vs Australia Both Australia and England went into the last match of the tournament undefeated, which meant it functioned as a de facto final, akin to the Uruguay v Brazil match at the 1950 Football World Cup.
Notable aspects The World Cup was reportedly poorly organised, with the conflicts between the WCAI, Indian state governments and the national governments. The visiting international teams were advised that the tournament would be held from 29 December 1977 to 23 January 1978 and were requested to arrive in mid-December for warm-up matches. They arrived to find that no matches had been organised; the WCAI issued an itinerary after the first match, but only around half of the anticipated matches were completed.
The tournament nonetheless attracted large crowds. England's Megan Lear later recounted that the "most memorable part of [the] tournament was playing in front of crowds of 40,000 plus".(5 March 2009). "'Our laundry laid out to dry on the rocks'" – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
The Indians were the first women's team to play in trousers; at the previous World Cup all teams had played in skirts.
Statistics
Most runs The top five runscorers are included in this table, ranked by runs scored and then by batting average.
Player Team Runs Inns Avg Highest 100s 50s Margaret Jennings 127 3 63.50 57* 0 1 Barbara Bevege 126 3 63.00 67* 0 2 Lynne Thomas 109 3 54.50 47 0 0 Sharon Tredrea 87 2 43.50 56 0 1 Wendy Hills 66 3 22.00 64 0 1 Source: ESPNcricinfo CricketArchive
Most wickets
The top five wicket takers are listed in this table, ranked by wickets taken and then by bowling average. Player Team Overs Wkts Ave SR Econ BBI Sharyn Hill 30.0 7 7.57 25.71 1.76 3/16 Sharon Tredrea 25.0 6 7.00 25.00 1.68 4/25 Pat Carrick 29.0 6 17.66 29.00 3.65 3/43 Glynis Hullah 21.1 5 6.80 25.40 1.60 2/2 Peta Verco 23.0 5 7.40 27.60 1.60 3/9
Source: ESPNcricinfo
References