Hosts New Zealand will face West Indies in the opening match of the Women's ODI World Cup in Tauranga on March 4. Six-time winners Australia will meet defending champions England at Seddon Park in Hamilton the following day, while India, last edition's runners-up, will face Pakistan in another marquee fixture in Tauranga on March 6.
ICC confirmed that the 31 games will be played across 31 days, with the eight teams competing for the trophy. Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Tauranga, and Wellington will be the six cities that will host the tournament. Christchurch will host the final on April 3.
Like the previous edition, the tournament will be played in the league format, where each team will meet the other teams once. The top four sides will qualify for the semi-finals, which will be played at Wellington and Christchurch on March 30 and 31 respectively. Both the semi-finals and the final will have a reserve day in place.
Australia, England, South Africa and India qualified for the global event on the basis of their position in ICC Women's Championship 2017-20 while New Zealand automatically qualified as hosts. After the World Cup qualifying event in Zimbabwe was called off due to the Covid-19 threat last month, Bangladesh, West Indies and Pakistan secured their places on the basis of their team ranking.
This will be the first big women's global event since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The last global women's event played was the Women's T20 World Cup in Australia in March 2020, which the hosts won by beating India in the final.
As a part of their preparation, India are scheduled to play five ODIs against hosts New Zealand before the World Cup.