Fifth Women's World Cup - A run up to the VII Women's World Cup

After a lapse of two decades, the World Cup competition - the fifth - returned to England, though not without some dramatic moments. Financial constraints following absence of revenue from sponsorships forced the Women's Cricket Association to set a deadline. If there were no funds by the midnight of October 11, 1992, then the fifth World Cup would have to go in search of another venue. But Dame Luck smiled upon women's cricket and just two days before D-day, the Foundation of Sports and Arts came forward with a whopping grant of 90,000 Pounds. The Marleybone Cricket Club promised its support, the Oval and Lord's cricket grounds were declared available and the smile returned to the comely faces of the officials of the Women's Cricket Association - "God was in Heaven and All was Right with the World".

By December '92, a record eight nations had confirmed their entries - namely, three times winner Australia, New Zealand, India, Holland, Ireland, newcomers Denmark, the West Indies, playing as a nation for the first time, and hosts, England. Each of the eight teams would play each other once in the preliminary league 55 overs a side, the two teams at the top of the table would have the privilege of contesting the final at Lord's with each innings being of 60 overs duration. The final was slated for August 1, 1993.

The preliminary 28 matches sprang a surprise - New Zealand topped the table and England finished second with Australia out of the reckoning. The English weather being a fickle miss, provision had been made for a reserve day for the final on August 2. However, Sunday August 1 proved a perfect summer day. But New Zealand failed to rise to the occasion and England scored a decisive win, doing full justice to the faith reposed by the sponsors in England's ability to repeat its success in the first World Cup. The scorecard in brief read as follows: England 195/5 off 60 overs (Janette Britten 48, Carol Hodges 45, Joanne Chamberlain 38) beat New Zealand 128 off 55.1 overs (Maia Lewis 28, Gillian Smith 3/29) by 67 runs.

India came fourth, behind Australia, with a close match against England in the league encounter to its credit, under the astute captaincy of the experienced Diana Edulji, whose left arm spin claimed as many as 14 victims in 7 matches. Other noteworthy performances were a record partnership of 107 runs for the second wicket between Janette Britten and Carol Hodges of England, vs. Australia at Guildford, a record third wicket partnership of 213 between Carol Hodges and Helen Plimmer against Ireland at Berkshire and a record fifth wicket stand of 101 between Lyn Larson and Zo °/°° Goss of Australia against Ireland at Rochampton.

The fifth World Cup threw up some good bowling performances as well. Gillian Smith returned figures of 5/30 for England against Australia at Guildford, Jennifer Turner of New Zealand had 5/5 against Holland at Lindfield, Carol Hodges achieved a hat-trick for England against Denmark at Banstead, Julie Harris got a hat-trick for New Zealand playing West Indies at Chiswick. Karen Smithies bagged 15 wickets, giving away only 119 runs for the series for England and Cherry Ann Singh took 5/30 for West Indies. The best batting aggregate was notched up by Janette Britten of England (410 in 8 matches), the highest score was by Helen Plimmer (118 vs. Ireland at Reading). Behind the stumps, Kalpana Venkatachar held one catch and stumped 5 against Denmark at Slough. The tournament provided much good cricket - and then it was on to the VI World Cup, in India, in December, 1997.

The league table read as follows:

Teams    Played Won     Lost     Points
England     7     6       1       24
N Zealand   7     7       0       28
Australia   7     5       2       20
India     7     4       3       12
Ireland     7     2       5        8
W Indies    7   2       5        8
Holland     7     1       6        4
Denmark     7     1       6        4