1978 Women's Cricket World Cup

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, and came over four years after the inaugural 1973 World Cup in England.

1978 Women's Cricket World Cup
Dates1 – 13 January 1978
Administrator(s)IWCC
Cricket formatODI (50-over)
Tournament format(s)Round-robin
Host(s) India
Champions Australia (1st title)
Runners-up England
Participants4
Matches played6
Most runs Margaret Jennings (127)
Most wickets Sharyn Hill (7)

It was originally proposed that South Africa host the World Cup, but this was abandoned to conform with the 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.[1] 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.[2][3] The four teams that did compete (the lowest number in the tournament's history) 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.[4][5]

Squads

Information is only available for players who played at least one match at the tournament.

 Australia[6]  England[7]  India[8]  New Zealand[9]

Venues
Four venues hosted matches at the 1978 Women's World Cup:

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.[10]

Warm-up matches
28 December 1977
v
East Zone
28 December 1977
v
West Bengal WCA President's XI
28 December 1977
v
Indian Universities
Result unknown
Pune, Maharashtra (exact venue unknown)
30 December 1977
v
West Bengal WCA President's XI
2 January 1978
v
East Zone

Group stage

Points table
Team Pld W L T NR Pts RR
 Australia3300063.264
 England3210042.657
 New Zealand3120022.777
 India3030001.988
Source: CricketArchive
  • 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).[11]

Matches
1 January
Scorecard
Australia 
177 (49.2 overs)
v
 New Zealand
111/8 (50 overs)
Australia won by 66 runs
Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur, Bihar (now Jharkhand)
  • Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
1 January
Scorecard
India 
63 (39.3 overs)
v
 England
65/1 (30.2 overs)
England won by 9 wickets
Eden Gardens, Calcutta, West Bengal
  • England won the toss and elected to bowl.
5 January
Scorecard
India 
130/9 (50 overs)
v
 New Zealand
131/1 (44 overs)
New Zealand won by 9 wickets
Moin-ul-Haq Stadium, Patna, Bihar
  • India won the toss and elected to bat.
8 January
Scorecard
New Zealand 
157 (49.4 overs)
v
 England
160/3 (40.3 overs)
  • England won the toss and elected to bowl.
8 January
Scorecard
Australia 
150/8 (50 overs)
v
 India
79 (47.2 overs)
Australia won by 71 runs
Moin-ul-Haq Stadium, Patna, Bihar
  • India won the toss and elected to bowl.

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.[2] England's Megan Lear later recounted that the "most memorable part of [the] tournament was playing in front of crowds of 40,000 plus".[12]

13 January
Scorecard
England 
96/8 (50 overs)
v
 Australia
100/2 (31.3 overs)
  • Australia won the toss and elected to bowl.

Statistics

Most runs

The top five runscorers are included in this table, ranked by runs scored and then by batting average.

PlayerTeamRunsInnsAvgHighest100s50s
Margaret Jennings Australia127363.5057*01
Barbara Bevege New Zealand126363.0067*02
Lynne Thomas England109354.504700
Sharon Tredrea Australia87243.505601
Wendy Hills Australia66322.006401

Source: CricketArchive

Most wickets

The top five wicket takers are listed in this table, ranked by wickets taken and then by bowling average.

PlayerTeamOversWktsAveSREconBBI
Sharyn Hill Australia30.077.5725.711.763/16
Sharon Tredrea Australia25.067.0025.001.684/25
Pat Carrick New Zealand29.0617.6629.003.653/43
Glynis Hullah England21.156.8025.401.602/2
Peta Verco Australia23.057.4027.601.603/9

Source: CricketArchive

References
  1. Velija, Philippa (2015). Women's Cricket and Global Processes: The Emergence and Development of Women's Cricket as a Global Game. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 99. ISBN 9781137323538.
  2. Abhishek Mukherjee (15 January 2014). "Australia Women lift 1978 World Cup — the tournament which was almost called off" – CricketCountry. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  3. "Quick, quick Snow". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  4. Women's World Cup 1977/78 (ordered by runs) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  5. Women's World Cup 1977/78 (ordered by wickets) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  6. Batting and fielding for Australia women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  7. Batting and fielding for England women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  8. Batting and fielding for India women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  9. Batting and fielding for New Zealand women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  10. Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  11. Shell Bicentennial Women's World Cup 1988/89 table – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  12. (5 March 2009). "'Our laundry laid out to dry on the rocks'" – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
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