Women's ODI World Cup Race: New Zealand's Hopes Dim After 0-2 Loss to Australia

The competition to make it to the Women's ODI World Cup 2025 is really becoming very intense since the tournament is happening in less than a year. The top team, Australia, with Alyssa Healy as their leader, is doing the best in the ICC Women's Championship 2022-25 because they won against New Zealand by two games to one in a three-match series they played recently. India doesn't have to worry about getting in because they're hosting the event but nine other teams are fighting hard to grasp a direct spot for the competition.

Australia finished with 39 points from 24 games. India, currently third, can reach a maximum of 37 points if they win their last two ODIs against the West Indies and three more against Ireland. Meanwhile, New Zealand's chances look slim. Sitting sixth on the table, they've played all 24 of their matches and no longer control their fate.

In the points table, Bangladesh is ranked 7th but they must play three more matches. If they play really well, they could even pass New Zealand and move up in the rankings. The West Indies, who are currently 9th, aren't out of the competition yet, they have a chance to make it into the top six as well. The situation is, that the top six teams automatically qualify for the World Cup.

The teams that didn't score too high have another shot though. Along with two other teams based on rankings, will try to get the last two spots open for the World Cup. The four lowest-ranked teams from the Women's Championship along with others from the ODI rankings need to show what they must do to get those spots.

New Zealand's Losing Streak Against Australia

On December 23, New Zealand suffered their 15th consecutive ODI loss to Australia. They last beat their rivals in February 2017. In the final ODI of the series at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, New Zealand lost by 75 runs.

Rosemary Mair and Sophie Devine also contributed, getting three and two wickets each. Because of Amelia Kerr's amazing bowling, where she took four wickets, Australia could only score 290 runs in 49 overs. Phoebe Litchfield and Ash Gardner did a good job, scoring 50 and 74 runs.

Australia's bowlers performed well, Annabel Sutherland and Alana King both got three wickets each, the Aussies proved they were the leaders of the series when New Zealand lost all their players after scoring 215 runs in just 43.3 overs.

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