ICC Women's Championship helping set up most competitive ICC Women's World Cup yet

• ICC Women’s Championship was played over two years from 2014-16
• Top four teams qualified automatically for the ICC Women’s World Cup
• India captain Mithali Raj and West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin praise impact of new schedule

The upcoming 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup is set to be the most competitive to date, with players across the board highlighting the improvements seen in the global game in recent seasons.

One of the key factors in that has been the introduction of the ICC Women’s Championship, a two-year tournament which saw the world’s leading eight teams face each other in three-match series.

Playing 21 matches each, all the top four teams at the end of the tournament qualified for the World Cup, with the bottom four entering a qualifying competition.

And while Australia and England – who between them account for nine of the ten previous World Cups – topped the qualifiers, the opportunity to play more games has been huge for some other teams in the tournament, including India, who ended up fifth.

India skipper Mithali Raj explained: “With the start of the ICC Women’s Championship, all the other teams have improved over the last two years, playing each other and playing the best sides and getting a lot of matches in the run up to the World Cup.

“It’s going to be a very close and intense competitive World Cup for all sides.

“Usually, if your Board is interested, you would get a couple of series to play, they mostly would be home series, but with the ICC you have both outgoing tours and home series, you can check out the players who will be good for you in different conditions, and get a glimpse of the opponents and how they are faring in those conditions.

“The more matches you play, the better you get.

“India has a chance here (at the World Cup) because of the format that it is, with the league then knockout – our first aim is to qualify for the knockouts and be in the semis and then it will be just one good game to get into the final.”

The West Indies has been a team on the rise in recent seasons, recording its best-ever ICC World Cup performance in 2013 in reaching the final, before claiming the ICC World Twenty20 title last year.

All-rounder Deandra Dottin is one of the stars of the team, finishing as the top wicket-taker in the latter competition, and she echoed Raj’s view on how important the ICC Women’s Championship has been for the progression ahead of the global showpiece in England.

She said: “Having more games and travelling more has a big impact on the team.

“You get more experience, you get to see more places and to play on different pitches so that when you have to go back you know how it plays and you can plan how you are going to play.

“People analyse you, they have records of the game so you have a chance to build up rivalries. If you are one of the best batters or someone who can take away the game, the oppositions study you, they focus on you and that’s where you as a batter have to come out and be on top of them.

“You have to out-smart them, and that’s exciting, you want to be doing it against the best teams, you want to face these tough challenges.”