The 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup final was a Women's One Day International match between the England women's cricket team and the New Zealand women's national cricket team, played on 22 March 2009 at the North Sydney Oval in Australia. It was the culmination of the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup, the ninth edition of the tournament. England won the final by four wickets, clinching their third World Cup title and their first outside England. It was the second time that the two teams had met in a World Cup final; England won their previous final contest in 1993.
Both teams were unbeaten in the first group stage. In the second round, known as the Super Sixes, New Zealand and England finished first and second to qualify directly for the final; New Zealand had only lost to England, while England had already guaranteed their place in the final when they lost their last match to Australia, who were the defending champions. England were considered the favourites for the final. The New Zealand captain, Haidee Tiffen, won the toss, and opted to bat first. Her side were bowled out for 166 runs. The all-rounder Lucy Doolan, batting at number nine, was the highest scorer for New Zealand with 48. Nicky Shaw, one of England's bowlers, took a career-best four wickets for 34 runs. In their response, England built an opening partnership of 74 runs and continued to score steadily. Despite regularly losing wickets, they reached the winning total with 23 balls to spare, earning England their first World Cup title for 16 years. Shaw, who had initially not been in the England starting lineup, was named player of the match, having replaced the injured Jenny Gunn minutes before the game started.
Background
The 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the tournament, and the first to be organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The first had been held in 1973, pre-dating the first men's Cricket World Cup by two years. The 2009 tournament included eight teams, six of which (Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the West Indies) qualified automatically due to finishing as the top six teams at the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup, while the other two (Pakistan and South Africa) qualified through the 2008 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier. Matches, which consisted of 50 overs-per-side, took place at several cricket grounds in Australia between 7 and 22 March, featuring 25 matches over 16 days.
Although the ICC had successfully developed and expanded the women's game, from 15 member countries in 2005 to 42 in 2007, there was a growing gap between the top four teams—Australia, England, India and New Zealand—and the rest. In 2008, England and then Australia became the first teams to introduce contracts for some of their women's players; Charlotte Edwards, England's captain, said that this allowed the players to "commit to training without worrying about our jobs outside cricket." Before the competition, Jenny Roesler of Cricinfo suggested England and New Zealand, along with Australia, as the favourites to win the competition. Haidee Tiffen, the captain of New Zealand, said that she thought "Australia, New Zealand, England and India are of equal strength and any team can beat the other on its day. It is an open tournament with no clear-cut favourites." England's Claire Taylor said that she thought that Australia might struggle after losing key members of their 2005 World Cup-winning squad.
Route to the final
Group stage New Zealand were drawn in Group A of the competition, along with Australia, South Africa and the West Indies. They started their campaign against Australia. Tiffen scored a cautious half-century for New Zealand, but her dismissal triggered a collapse in which the team lost seven wickets for the addition of 34 runs. In their reply, Australia regularly lost wickets, and a six over bowling spell by medium pacer Kate Pulford, in which she took three wickets for 30 runs, slowed the run chase. After an initial rain delay held up the game, a second downpour finished the match, with Australia 13 runs short by the Duckworth–Lewis method. Tiffen missed New Zealand's second match, against the West Indies, with an injury, and Aimee Mason deputised as captain. For the second time in as many matches, New Zealand suffered a collapse, losing their first six wickets for 104 runs. A seventh-wicket partnership of 57 between Mason and Sarah Tsukigawa helped New Zealand to remain competitive in the match, and they completed their 50 overs with 192 runs. According to Cricinfo, the West Indian reply "was devoid of momentum". Spin bowlers Mason and Lucy Doolan took three wickets apiece to limit the West Indies to 136 runs for the loss of eight wickets from their overs. In their final group stage match, a win over South Africa ensured that New Zealand won the group. Amy Satterthwaite, Sara McGlashan and Nicola Browne all scored half-centuries as their team reached a total of 250 for five. South Africa struggled in their chase: only Cri-Zelda Brits reached double figures in an innings dominated by the bowling of Mason and Suzie Bates, who collected four wickets each, helping New Zealand earn a 199-run victory.
England were placed in Group B, alongside India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In their first contest, against Sri Lanka, they scored 277 runs, aided by a 95-ball century from Claire Taylor, and a half-century by Caroline Atkins. Sri Lanka batted their full allocation of overs, but lost by 100 runs. Laura Marsh took three wickets, and three of the Sri Lankan batters were run out in their chase. Following the match, Jenny Gunn's bowling action was reported to the ICC as being potentially illegal, but she was cleared a few days later. England faced India in their second match, in a contest billed as the battle for top spot in the group. England won the match easily, bowling India out for 169: Gunn and Holly Colvin each took three wickets, while both Atkins and Claire Taylor scored unbeaten half-centuries. Another large win, over Pakistan, guaranteed that England finished as group winners. Marsh took a career-best five wickets to help bowl Pakistan out for just 78 runs, a total which her side reached in less than half of their allowed overs.
Super Sixes After the initial league stage, the bottom team from each group was eliminated, and the remaining teams progressed into the Super Sixes. During this stage, results and points from matches between the teams that had qualified were carried over, and each team played a further three matches, against those teams that had advanced from the other group. England and New Zealand met each other in the first match of the Super Sixes. England batted first, and despite being 96 for four at one stage, 57 runs from Edwards, and a rapid 22 runs from Gunn, helped their side recover to post a total of 201 for five. In response, New Zealand began positively, and were boosted by a half-century from their captain, Tiffen, but the spin bowling of Edwards, Marsh and Colvin controlled the run rate, and New Zealand were eventually bowled out for 170, Edwards taking four wickets. England's following match was against the West Indies, and they once again surpassed 200 runs after batting first. Sarah Taylor, Claire Taylor and Atkins all scored half-centuries to propel England to their total of 236 for eight. The English bowlers then dismissed the West Indies for 90 runs, Marsh collecting three wickets. The win secured England a place in the final, irrespective of the result of their final Super Sixes match against Australia.
After losing their first Super Sixes match to England, New Zealand faced an Indian side which had beaten Australia in their first Super Six contest. India batted first and scored 207, during an innings in which they lost four batters to run outs. New Zealand began their response well, putting on a partnership of 78 runs for the first wicket between Pulford and Tiffen. After Tiffen's dismissal, Bates supported Pulford, who eventually fell for 71 runs, and New Zealand reached their target with 14 balls to spare. New Zealand set a record partnership for the second wicket in women's ODIs in their final match: Bates scored 168 and Tiffen 100 as the pair put on 262 runs together. Bates played an aggressive innings, scoring her runs from 105 balls, including 6 sixes and 19 fours. New Zealand reached 373 from their overs, and bowled Pakistan out for 150, earning themselves a 223-run victory, and qualifying for the final. England were outplayed by Australia in their final Super Six match: Shelley Nitschke slowed the run rate during her bowling, taking two wickets and restricting England to just 14 runs from her 10 overs. England were bowled out for 161, a total Australia chased down within 34 overs. England's loss to Australia ended a 17-match unbeaten run.
Build-up The final was a repeat of the 1993 tournament, when England won at Lord's. Both sides had won the World Cup previously, but only when hosting the tournament. New Zealand achieved the feat in 2000, while England were winners in both 1973 and 1993. As well as losing the 1993 final to England, New Zealand were also finalists in 1997, losing to Australia in India. England had contested five previous finals; losing to Australia in subsequent tournaments in 1978, 1982 and 1988. Huw Richards, writing for the International Herald Tribune, described both England and New Zealand as worthy finalists, and noted that he was disappointed with the performance of Australia, who finished fourth. Simon Wilde of The Times cited England as favourites: "In Edwards they have the ICC player of the year, in Claire Taylor the No 1-ranked batsman and in Isa Guha the No 1 bowler." The New Zealand Heralds Mark Geenty concurred that England were favourites, describing them as "the form side of recent years". England had beaten New Zealand in their most recent four matches, including their victory over them during the Super Sixes stage of the competition. New Zealand's coach, Gary Stead, said that his team would aim to play their normal "aggressive style of play and although that may be a bit more high risk, I think it's the style that we play best."
After the Australian team was knocked out, local press coverage for the match diminished; only three journalists attended the pre-game press conference for the final. A reporter for the BBC, Alison Mitchell, said that in the Australian newspapers, "the nationals and even most of the locals I flicked through on Saturday carried nothing except one slim column". The 2009 World Cup was the first to be televised globally; ESPN Star Sports provided coverage from seven matches, including the final. As well as being available on television, the matches were streamed on the ESPN Star Sports website. The match was also broadcast on the radio; Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the BBC provided joint coverage.
England all-rounder Gunn aggravated a calf strain during the warm-up, and 10 minutes before the start was replaced by the team's vice-captain, Nicky Shaw.
Match Summary