New Zealand are facing an uphill battle to qualify automatically for the 2025 Women's Cricket World Cup, and may have to go through the Qualifier tournament in order to take part.
Despite being one of three teams ever to have won the tournament, winning their only trophy back in 2000, and being ranked the fifth-best side in the world in the format, New Zealand are struggling to take one of the automatic qualifying spots for next year's tournament. They have six matches left in the ICC Women's Championship to avoid going through the qualifier tournament.
The pathway to qualify for the women's World Cup is relatively simple. India qualify automatically as hosts, then the other five top-placed sides at the end of the 2022-2025 Women's Championship also automatically qualify. The other four sides in the Women's Championship then go into the qualifier tournament alongside the two next top-ranked sides from the ICC rankings.
Three sides, England, Australia and South Africa, have already secured qualification through the Women's Championship, the total points they've accumulated meaning they cannot drop down below sixth place - the qualification spots as long as India finish in the top six. New Zealand are currently in sixth place - the last of the qualifying spots, on 18 points, one point ahead of Pakistan in seventh. However, Pakistan have already completed all their matches in the cycle, and thus cannot overtake New Zealand on points. Their next threat is the West Indies, who are four points behind them with six more matches to play.
New Zealand have lost series to Sri Lanka and South Africa in this Championship cycle, with two No Results against Bangladesh also hurting their potential points total. They also lost their last two series 3-0 to England and West Indies.
Their next assignment is a three-match series against India, which starts tomorrow (October 23). The maximum points New Zealand can get from that series is six, with two points awarded for each win. Their only remaining opportunity for points following the India series is a three-match series against Australia in December. In short, New Zealand have two of their most difficult series in the cycle left to play.
Simply, the West Indies only need two more wins than New Zealand in their remaining matches to go level with them on points. Given that three of those six remaining matches will be at home against Bangladesh, that's a realistic prospect for the West Indies to achieve.
New Zealand's best hope is to achieve at least two wins from their matches and keep their NRR steady (currently 0.392). That would put them level on points with Sri Lanka, who have already finished their allocation of matches, and see them overtake them on NRR. That would mean not only would West Indies have to take at least one match off India in order to level them on points, Sri Lanka would likely be pushed down into sixth spot rather than New Zealand.
Bangladesh are also in this conversation, although will most likely have to go through the qualifier tournament. They currently have one point less than the West Indies and six matches to play. Three of those matches are at home to Ireland while the other three are away to West Indies. However, they would have to most likely win all of those matches against Ireland, and take a win off West Indies in order to stay in automatic qualifier contention.
Thus, New Zealand will face two of their toughest series of the cycle over the next few months. There is a very possible world in which they come out of those series without a single win. In that case, they will likely be overtaken by the West Indies (and possibly Bangladesh if they whitewash Ireland) and have to go through the qualifier tournament. If West Indies whitewash Bangladesh, New Zealand will have to take at least one win to stay level with them on points and hope they go through on NRR. If West Indies whitewash Bangladesh and win matches against India, New Zealand will need another win to overtake Sri Lanka and push them down into seventh position in the table, in order to seal their place in the top six.
As it stands: The ICC Women's Championship 2023-25 table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | NR | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia (Q) | 18 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 2.002 | Advance to the 2025 Women's Cricket World Cup |
| 2 | England (Q) | 21 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 1.506 | |
| 3 | South Africa (Q) | 21 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 0.350 | |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 24 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 4 | 22 | −0.107 | |
| 5 | India (Q) | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 1.062 | |
| 6 | New Zealand | 18 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 0.392 | |
| 7 | Pakistan (A) | 24 | 8 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 17 | −0.613 | Advance to the 2025 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier |
| 8 | West Indies | 18 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 14 | −1.121 | |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 18 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 13 | −1.178 | |
| 10 | Ireland | 18 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 8 | −2.001 |
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