Australia win Women’s Championship, qualify for World Cup

Australia have won the ICC Women’s Championship with their last set of matches still to go.

Australia, currently on 30 points, emerged the winners after England beat West Indies by five wickets in Kingston. It was West Indies’ last match of the Championship, and they are in third place with 22 points, behind England who moved to second with 23 points after the win.

The Championship, which started in June 2014, is scheduled to end on November 23 with Australia facing South Africa in the tournament’s last fixture. As things stand, England can finish with a maximum of 29 points, which won’t be enough even if Australia were to be whitewashed by South Africa in that series.

Australia have won all six series on their way to the top. Among them are whitewashes of West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as a 2-1 victory over England during the Women’s Ashes in July 2015.

Meg Lanning, their captain, has led the Australian batting effort in the Championship with 1000 runs, including four centuries with a highest score of 135 not out. Allrounder Ellyse Perry is the second-highest scorer with 797 runs.

On the bowling front, Australia’s spinning duo of Jess Jonassen – leading with 29 wickets – and Kristen Beams have shared 50 wickets between them, while Perry has picked up 20 wickets with her medium pace.

With their victory, Australia also become the first team to achieve automatic qualification for the 2017 World Cup in England and Wales.