Sri Lanka have secured automatic qualification for next year's Women's World Cup after both West Indies and New Zealand suffered defeats in their most recent league stage matches.
While Sri Lanka finished their quota of matches for the league stage in August, other results have ensured that their position in the table cannot drop below sixth. The sides who finish outside of the top six positions at the end of the league stage in January will have to go through the qualifier tournament to reach the World Cup.
New Zealand played their final match in the Championship today (December 23), suffering a 75-run defeat to Australia. Ash Gardner scored 74 alongside a half-century from Phoebe Litchfield to set the White Ferns 291 to get. But a collapse brought on by Annabel Sutherland saw New Zealand bowed out for 215 in 43.3 overs. That result means New Zealand finish their campaign with 21 points from 24 matches, and cannot overtake fifth-place Sri Lanka who have 22 points.
The only competitors still with matches left in the Championship who could overtake New Zealand are Bangladesh and West Indies. However, following West Indies record-breaking defeat to India yesterday (December 22), only one of those sides can overtake Sri Lanka as well.
West Indies have two matches left to play against India, and if they win both of them they will move to 18 points. However, their final three matches in the Championship will be against Bangladesh, who will also be playing their final matches of the league stage in that series. West Indies will only be able to overtake Sri Lanka if they win at least four of their five remaining matches, but that would leave Bangladesh only able to reach a maximum of 21 points, below Sri Lanka. Hence, Sri Lanka can't drop below sixth.
New Zealand face a nervous wait to see if they will need to qualify for the World Cup. To do so without depending on net run rate, they need Bangladesh not to win another game, and West Indies to lose at least twice. They will be hoping, therefore, for India to whitewash West Indies and West Indies to whitewash Bangladesh.
Updated Women's Championship standings: Sri Lanka qualify for 2025 World Cup
Qualified | Team | Played | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | NRR | Points |
Q | Australia | 24 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 3 | +2.130 | 39 |
Q | England | 24 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 2 | +1.436 | 32 |
Q | India | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
Q | South Africa | 24 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 | +0.230 | 25 |
Q | Sri Lanka | 24 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 4 | -0.107 | 22 |
New Zealand | 24 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 3 | +0.129 | 21 | |
Bangladesh | 21 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 4 | -0.662 | 19 | |
Pakistan | 24 | 8 | 15 | 0 | 1 | -0.613 | 17 | |
West Indies | 19 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 2 | -1.325 | 14 | |
Ireland | 21 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 2 | -1.939 | 8 |
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.