Australia claim ICC Women's Championship honours after win in Wellington
Winning the final match of their 24-game campaign, Australia have moved to an unassailable lead in the ICC Women's Championship race, while New Zealand face an anxious Cricket World Cup qualification wait.
By Daniel Beswick
Australia have completed a three-peat of ICC Women's Championship title-winning campaigns, beating New Zealand by 75 runs at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on Monday.
Australia v New Zealand, 3rd ODI, Scorecard
With the win the Australians complete their 24-match campaign with 39 points (17 wins, three no-results, three defeats), a total unable to be eclipsed by a chasing side.
India, who have two remaining matches against West Indies and three against Ireland, can only reach 37 points.
ICC Women's Championship 2025 Standings
There are repercussions too for New Zealand, whose chances of automatic qualification for the 2025 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup take a hit with the defeat.
While sat in the final automatic qualification spot in sixth after their 24 matches (21 points), New Zealand could be overtaken by both Bangladesh (three matches to play, 19 points accumulated) or the West Indies (five matches to play, 14 points accumulated), forcing them to earn their global tournament privileges via the Cricket World Cup Qualifier, where six teams will battle for the final two competition spots.
The Australian victory is a win too for Sri Lanka, who now cannot be overtaken by two teams with fixtures in hand and have therefore claimed an automatic spot for next year's global event.
An ICC Women's Championship and #NZvAUS series double for Australia in Wellington 🙌
— ICC (@ICC) December 23, 2024
More 📲 https://t.co/pkEIAzR17P pic.twitter.com/HBM8elmVeZ
Cementing their credentials as one of best women's international teams across any sport, let alone cricket, the Australians closed out the campaign by bowling out New Zealand for 215.
After electing to bat, Alyssa Healy was joined by Phoebe Litchfield in an 88-run opening stand, setting the platform for Annabel Sutherland (42 from 43 balls ) and Ash Gardner (74 from 62 balls) to propel the tourists to an imposing 290.
The White Ferns had looked well-set in their reply at 106/1 in the 20th over, though a boundary catch to dismiss Suzie Bates and a run out to remove Melie Kerr swung momentum. The hosts were unable to claw their way back into proceedings, as Sutherland (3/39) and Alana King (3/34) shone with the ball.
Australia are the only team to ever hold the ICC Women's Championship, having also claimed honours for the other two competition cycles (2014-2016 and 2017-2020).