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Women’s cricket
worldwide is being taken more seriously, led by the sincere support of the
International Cricket Council (ICC), which has put increased resources behind
the women’s game, leading to an ever-improving profile in many countries. In
March next year, eight countries will participate in the ICC Women’s World Cup
in Australia,
which promises to be a great tribute to women’s cricket.

Below are the profiles
of the eight countries that will do battle for Women’s World Cup glory,
courtesy of the ICC’s official website, www.icc-cricket.com

 
South Africa

Cri-Zelda Brits leads
her South African team to the event looking to improve on its performance the
last time it played at a major tournament.

South Africa‘s performances on home soil during
the Women’s World Cup in 2005 were so disappointing that they were forced to
qualify for the 2009 event.

But under the leadership
of Brits, South Africa
looks a more formidable outfit and coasted through the ICC Women’s World Cup
Qualifier (ICC WWCQ) in 2008 without ever looking in trouble.

Although it enjoyed a
comfortable series win over Ireland
in July 2008, a failure to win a single game against England in the ODI and Twenty20
series shows how much work the side still has to do to catch up with the top
four.

Claire Terblanche, Susan
Benade and Brits help form a powerful batting unit, with Olivia Anderson also
one to watch following an excellent start to her international career at the
ICC WWCQ.

Alicia Smith was joint
leading wicket taker at the ICC WWCQ, and with several belligerent innings
against England
she showed she has the potential to be a world-class all rounder, while spinner
Sunette Loubser can always be relied upon for wickets.

The big blow to South
African cricket in the past year has been the loss of Johmari Logtenberg, who
chose to give up the sport in order to pursue a career in golf.

 
Australia

Australia is the current number one team in
the world, the reigning champions and will be highly fancied to take the ICC
Women’s World Cup on home soil in 2009.

Boasting an excellent
combination of youth and experience, the side is expected to be led by Karen
Rolton who was part of Australia’s
team that won the Women’s World Cup in 2005.

Lisa Sthalekar is
regarded one of the leading all-rounders in the world and much will be expected
of the right-handed batter, whose off spin bowling has a record of taking
wickets at important times for her country.

Big things are also
hoped for of Alex and Kate Blackwell, the first identical twins to play cricket
for Australia,
as well as slow left arm spinner Shelley Nitschke who topped the wicket taking
charts at the Women’s World Cup 2005.

Much media attention
will focus on multi-talented Ellyse Perry, who has shown much promise both in
football and cricket, and impressed fans with her massive straight six into the
stands of the MCG in a Twenty20 game against England in February 2008.

Having tied the ODI
series against England in
early 2008, although it lost the only Test against its Ashes rivals, Australia recovered to record an excellent
victory away from home in an ODI series against New Zealand.

Warm up series against India in November and New Zealand early next year will
provide perfect preparation for this highly formidable team unit.

The side has also been
boosted by a recent announcement that Cricket Australia will make a total
annual contribution of up to $500,000 to squad members, to help allow extra
time for practice and matches.

 
England

England showed that it is a force to be reckoned with after some
brilliant displays against Australia
and New Zealand
in early 2008.

Not only did it regain
the Ashes, with nine wickets in the match from Isa Guha, it also comfortably
defeated New Zealand
in the ODI series away from home, having lost to the White Ferns back in 2007.

Captained by the
brilliant Charlotte Edwards, who has consistently made runs at the highest
level, the side also relies on Claire Taylor, who was nominated for the ICC
Women’s Player of the Year Award in 2007.

Players to watch out for
include highly promising wicket-keeper Sarah Taylor, while fast bowler
Katherine Brunt is always a threat along with Guha.

Series against West Indies, South Africa
and India
at home in the summer of 2008 will give invaluable experience to the side and
they will be keen to reclaim the World Cup trophy that they last won in 1993
under the leadership of Karen Smithies.

India

India showed it is still one of the
favourites for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2009 when it easily won the Asia Cup
in May 2008.

Mithali Raj, who passed
3,000 ODI runs during the Asia Cup, has established herself as one of the
leading performers in world cricket and is expected to be one of the top run
scorers at the event.

Jhulan Goswami, the ICC
Women’s Player of the Year in 2007, is one of the most fearsome fast bowlers in
the world and will hoping to build upon her growing reputation for delivering
match-winning spells.

A number of the squad,
including Raj, Sharma and Goswami, were part of the India side that experienced
defeat in the 2005 event and will be determined to make up for the past.

India has yet to win the Women’s World
Cup and will be hoping to emulate its male counterparts who have enjoyed
success at both the ICC World Twenty20 2007 and the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup
2008.

They prepare for the event
with a tour of England and Australia in
2008 which will provide a useful form guide to whether it is capable of meeting
the high expectations of people back home.

New Zealand

New Zealand is one of the top four sides in
the world and will be highly fancied as a team capable of winning the ICC
Women’s World Cup.

It came close to
reaching the 2005 final, but a poor batting display in the semi-final against India saw it
lose by 40 runs.

Captained by Haidee
Tiffin, the side suffered disappointing defeats against Australia and England in early 2008.

All-rounders Aimee
Mason, Sarah Tsukigawa and Nicola Browne will be important players for the
experienced White Ferns.

The loss of Rebecca
Rolls, who has retired, is hugely disappointing for the Kiwis but it has the
ability to make an impression on the event.

The annual Rose Bowl
series against Australia
means that the team is familiar with Australian conditions and players and the
Kiwis will be a tough outfit to defeat.

Pakistan

Urooj Mumtaz’s side
qualified for this event as a result of reaching the final of the ICC Women’s
World Cup Qualifier.

After surprising Ireland in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier
in Stellenbosch in February 2008, a comprehensive victory in the semi-final
over the Netherlands helped
seal a place for Australia
for 2009.

Sana Mir was outstanding
throughout the event and it was her wicket taking abilities that helped her
capture the Player of the Tournament Award.

Indeed Pakistan will
look to its spin attack of Mir, Mumtaz and Sadia Yousuf to provide excellent
back up to the pace of Asmavia Iqbal.

With the bat, Bismah
Maroof has the ability to score runs at this level, but much improvement will
be needed by the batting line-up which has failed too often on the big occasion
in recent times, such as in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier Final against South Africa.

It had a disappointing
event at the Asia Cup 2008, registering only one win in the tournament over Bangladesh,
having earlier suffered a humiliating defeat against the same opposition, but
there were some positives with Urooj Mumtaz scoring her first ODI fifty.

Pakistan will be keen to use October’s home series against the West Indies to show it does have the ability to compete
against the top six sides.

 
Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka reached the final of the Asia Cup in May 2008 but was
heavily defeated by India,
which illustrates the task it faces if it is to challenge the top four sides.

Skipper Shashikala
Siriwardene will be one of the key players for Sri Lanka with both bat and ball
and showed she is capable of rising to the big occasion with four wickets in
the Asia Cup 2008 Final.

A lack of match
experience could potentially damage its hopes, but by losing to India by only 29 runs in one of the Asia Cup
group matches, Sri Lanka
showed it has the potential to be competitive against the top sides and a
possible visit by the West Indies in late 2008
will give some valuable match practice.

It will also be keen to
improve on performances at the 2005 event, where Sri Lanka’s batting struggled to
deal with superior bowling, with only two batters passing the fifty mark during
the tournament.

58 all out against New Zealand and 57 all out against Australia was particularly disappointing,
although it secured a top six spot at the event with a shock 32-run win over
hosts South Africa.

West Indies

It is still hard to know
how the West Indies will perform in this event as up until its matches against Ireland in June
2008, it had not played an international game since 2005.

And although it recorded
comfortable victories over Ireland
and the Netherlands, the
opposition is sure to be a lot tougher in 2009, with a score of 41 all out
against England
in July 2008 providing plenty of concern to the side.

The side, which is
captained by Nadine George, a left-handed batter from St Lucia, who
was part of that 2005 squad, has showed promise though with Stefanie Taylor and
Stacy-Ann King showcasing their batting skills.

The bowling attack will
rely on the likes on promising youngster Danielle Small and the left-arm medium
from King.

The squad has benefitted
from a training camp, which was overseen by the ICC’s High Performance Manager,
Richard Done, in April 2008 which suggested that there is plenty of talent
amongst the side to compete at the top level.

Coach Sherwin Campbell,
who played 52 Tests and 90 ODIs for the West Indies,
will bring plenty of experience to the side although the main challenge many
players will face is one of a lack of match practice.

The squad is also hoping
to visit Pakistan and Sri Lanka in
late 2008 as they prepare for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2009.