The World Cup tournament returned to India for the first time since 1978 with the final played in front of a huge crowd at Eden Gardens. Australia defeated New Zealand in the final to record their fourth World Cup title.
Teams
A record eleven teams participated in the tournament:
India, New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Ireland, Denmark, Pakistan, Netherlands
Format
The eleven teams were divided into two pools, one of six teams and the other of five. The top four teams in each pool would go on to play in finals series – quarters, semis, final. Teams were awarded 6 points for a win, 0 points for a loss and 3 points for a tie or no result.
Heavy rains impacted the tournament and the first three matches were washed out while a number of other matches were played with reduced number of overs.
Ladders:
Pool A
Australia finished on top of Pool A, going through undefeated, their only “blemish” a washed out fixture against Ireland. England’s only loss was against Australia and finished comfortably second. A solid third place for World Cup debutant South Africa, with Ireland taking the fourth spot.
| Team | P | W | L | T | NR | Points |
| Australia | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 27 |
| England | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| South Africa | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Ireland | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Denmark | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Pakistan | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pool B
New Zealand finished top of Pool B, undefeated, a tie against host nation India the only thing to spoil a perfect record. India likewise went through undefeated and comfortable held second place over Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
| Team | P | W | L | T | NR | Points |
| New Zealand | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 |
| India | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| Netherlands | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| Sri Lanka | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| West Indies | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Finals
West Indies comfortably defeated Denmark in the play-off for ninth spot.
Quarter Finals
Australia v Netherlands
Australia 223/4 (Bronwyn Calver 76, Mel Jones 43, Caroline Rambaldo 2-28) defeated
Netherlands 108/6 (Ariette van Noortwijk 17, Bronwyn Calver 1-3, Cathryn Fitzpatrick 1-7) by 116 runs
England v Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka 104 (Vanessa Bowen 38, Charlotte Edwards 3-21, Melissa Reynard 2-10) lost to
England 105/1 (Charlotte Edwards 57, Dona Indralatha 1-17) by 9 wickets
India v South Africa
South Africa 80 (Daleen Terblanche 25, Cindy Eksteen 24, Deepa Marathe 2-4, Renu Margrate 2-13) lost to
India 81/5 (Purnima Rau 24, Chander Kaul 21, Kim Price 2-3) by 5 wickets
New Zealand v Ireland
New Zealand 244/3 (Debbie Hockley 70, Emily Drumm 60) defeated
Ireland 105/9 (Nikki Squire 16, Kelly Brown 2-12, Kathryn Ramel 2-26) by 139 runs
Semi Finals
Australia v India
Bad light reduced the game to just 32 overs per side. India penalised two overs for slow over rate so only had 30 overs to chase down the Australian target.
Australia 123/7 (Joanne Broadbent 33, Belinda Clark 31, Pramila Bhatt 3-25, Neetu David 2-27) defeated
India 104/9 (Chanderkanta Kaul 48, Cathryn Fitzpatrick 3-18) by 19 runs
New Zealand v England
New Zealand 175/6 (Debbie Hockley 43, Katrina Keenan 35, Karen Smithies 3-40) defeated
England 155 (Jan Brittin 32, Barbara Daniels 30, Clare Nicholson 2-30) by 20 runs
Final
Best Performers
Player of the Tournament
n/a
Best Batters
The top two batters came from the two teams that played in the final, Australia and New Zealand. Charlotte Edwards briefly had the highest score (173*) in a World Cup until Belinda Clark’s 229 not out. South Africa’s Linda Oliver did well in her country’s debut World Cup.
| Team | Inns | Runs | Ave | HS | 100s | 50s | SR | |
| Debbie Hockley | NZ | 7 | 456 | 76.00 | 100* | 2 | 2 | 64.13 |
| Belinda Clark | Aus | 5 | 445 | 148.33 | 229* | 1 | 2 | 95.28 |
| Charlotte Edwards | Eng | 6 | 351 | 91.25 | 173* | 1 | 2 | 88.80 |
| Jan Brittin | Eng | 7 | 292 | 48.66 | 138 | 1 | 1 | 70.53 |
| Linda Olivier | SA | 6 | 224 | 44.80 | 78* | 0 | 3 | n/a |
Best Bowlers
As with the batting, dominated by Australia and New Zealand with a lone England player, Melissa Reynard, and one from the host nation in Purnima Rau.
| Team | Balls | W | Ave | Best | SR | ER | |
| Katrina Keenan | NZ | 324 | 13 | 8.84 | 3-20 | 24.50 | 2.63 |
| Cathryn Fitzpatrick | Aus | 280 | 12 | 8.83 | 4.25 | 27.40 | 2.37 |
| Olivia Magno | Aus | 238 | 11 | 8.18 | 3-11 | 20.70 | 3.40 |
| Melissa Reynard | Eng | 295 | 11 | 13.09 | 3-16 | 10.66 | 1.85 |
| Purnima Rau | Ind | 194 | 10 | 9.70 | 3-22 | 46.10 | 3.38 |
Best Wicket Keepers
Five of the best to have ever represented their country in ODIs and upon retirement each had the highest number of dismissals for their country. Rolls, Price and Jain still hold that position for their country in 2021, so the wicket keeping in this tournament was of the highest standard.
| Team | Matches | Catches | Stumpings | Dismissals | |
| Jane Smit | Eng | 7 | 4 | 9 | 13 |
| Malene Iversen | Den | 6 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Asma Farzand | Pak | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Anju Jain | Ind | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Thanuja Ekanayake | SL | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 |