Women's Cricket World Cup 2022: Everything you need to know

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, The eight team captains with the Women's World Cup trophy

The Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 is here after a five-year wait!

England won the last tournament at home in 2017.

The One Day International (ODI) World Cup, which was delayed for a year due to Covid-19 pandemic, is being held in New Zealand this time around.

Starting on Friday 4 March, there will be 31 games played over 31 days so keep reading to find out more.

Where is the World Cup being held?

Image source, EPA/JOHN DAVIDSON

Image caption, Suzie Bates of New Zealand and her teammates will be hoping to win the tournament on home soil

The Women's Cricket World Cup is being hosted by New Zealand in 2022.

Games will be played in six cities - Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Tauranga, Dunedin and Christchurch.

Wellington's Basin Reserve cricket ground will be used for a number of group matches and one semi-final match.

Hagley Oval in Christchurch will host the second semi-final and the final.

Which countries are taking part?

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Image caption, England captain Heather Knight during the Women's Cricket World Cup

Eight teams are playing in the tournament - hosts New Zealand, Australia, England, India, South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan and Bangladesh (making their first appearance at a Women's Cricket World Cup)

Every team will play each other once during the group stage of the tournament.

The top four teams, with the highest points in the group table, will then move onto the semi-finals on 30 and 31 March.

The winners of those matches will play in the final on 3 April.

Which team are the favourites to win?

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Image caption, Australia players look on during the national anthem before their Cricket World Cup match against Pakistan

Australia are going into this year's World Cup as favourites.

They've won the tournament six times before and have only lost two of the 30 ODI games they have played since the 2017 World Cup.

Other teams to watch out for though will be defending champions England and the world's number two ranked ODI side, South Africa.

New Zealand fans will also be hoping their side bring home the trophy on home soil.

What will the champions win?

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Image caption, The Women's World Cup trophy at the opening game

The champions will win just over 拢1 million ($1.32m) in prize money, while the total prize pot for the whole tournament is 拢2.67m ($3.5m).

That's an increase on the prize money awarded at the 2017 Women's World Cup, but it is still less than what was on offer at the most recent men's tournament.

At the men's Cricket World Cup in 2019, England won 拢3.05m ($4m) for just winning the tournament.

That's more than the total money on offer at this this year's women's event.