India beat South Africa in the final of the 2025 edition to win the Women’s World Cup for the first time. Here is Wisden’s team of the tournament.
Smriti Mandhana (India)
M: 9 | 434 runs at 54.25, SR 99, HS: 109, 100s: 1, 50s: 2 | Ct: 8
Mandhana followed a quiet start to the World Cup, with 80 against Australia, 88 against England, and 109 in the all-important game against New Zealand in consecutive innings. In the process, she became the first batter to score a thousand runs in women’s ODIs in a single calendar year.
Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa) – captain
M: 9 | 571 runs at 71.37, SR: 99, HS: 169, 100s: 2, 50s: 3 | Ct: 8
Five fifty-plus scores including two hundreds and a record tally for a single edition of the World Cup. Hundred in the semi-final. Hundred in the final. Wolvaardt did everything possible by a batter – all in one breathtaking exhibition of shots after another – except lift the coveted trophy. Her time will come.
Jemimah Rodrigues (India)
M: 8 | 292 runs at 58.40, SR: 101, HS: 127*, 100s: 1, 50s: 1
The hundred in the semi-final against Australia will be talked about in the years – decades, perhaps – to come, but Rodrigues also got a rapid cameo against Australia and a 55-ball 76 not out to push India to a substantial score against New Zealand: all this, after returning to the XI during the World Cup.
Nat Sciver-Brunt (England)
M: 8 | 262 runs at 43.67, SR 85, HS: 117, 100s: 1, 50s: 1
9 wickets at 29.33, ec 5.86, BBI: 2-5
Sciver-Brunt got her runs at an impressive average, but that was perhaps expected of her. She also prised out wickets from time to time. Her double strike against India turned the game in England’s favour. Even in the semi-final she got a wicket and a fifty, but it was not enough.
Marizanne Kapp (South Africa)
M: 9 | 208 runs at 29.71, SR: 103, HS: 68*, 50s: 2
12 wickets at 20.25, ec 4.18, BBI: 5-20, 5WIs: 1
Kapp peaked in the same semi-final. Having suitably warmed up with a 33-ball 42, Kapp struck twice in the first over and later, had another burst of three wickets in seven balls. It was not all, though: there was a fifty and three wickets against Pakistan, a cameo and two wickets against India, and a fifty against Bangladesh.
Ash Gardner (Australia)
M: 7 | 328 runs at 82.00, SR: 130, HS: 115, 100s: 2, 50s: 1
7 wickets at 37.85, ec 5.30, BBI: 2-39
No one scored more runs than Gardner at a better strike rate – in this World Cup as well as in all women’s ODIs. Perhaps the most destructive death-overs batter in the format, she also picked up seven wickets in the tournament.
Annabel Sutherland (Australia)
M: 7 | 117 runs at 29.25, SR 85, HS: 98*, 50s: 1
17 wickets at 15.82, ec 4.45, BBI: 5-40
Sutherland’s 17 wickets were the second-most of the World Cup – and she played two games fewer than chart topper Deepti Sharma and had a significantly superior average. But there were the runs as well, including the unbeaten 98 against England.
Richa Ghosh (India) – wicketkeeper
M: 8 | 235 runs at 39.17, SR 134, HS: 94, 50s: 1 | Ct: 4
Ghosh’s most astonishing innings came in the league match against South Africa, but there were other shades of brilliance as well – in the cameos against Pakistan and Australia as well as in the semi-final and the final.
Nadine de Klerk (South Africa)
M: 9 | 208 runs at 52.00, SR 132, HS: 84*, 50s: 1
9 wickets at 26.11, ec 5.30, BBI: 2-24
That strike rate? A direct outcome of two violent finishes in two league games against India and Bangladesh. There could have been a third in the final, but it was not supposed to happen. There was her bowling too, chipping in with vital wickets.
Deepti Sharma (India)
M: 12 | 215 runs at 30.71, SR 90, HS: 58, 50s: 3
22 wickets at 20.40, ec 5.52, BBI: 5-39, 5WIs: 1
The leading wicket-taker of the World Cup, Sharma also became the first to do the 200 run-20 wicket double in a single edition as well as the first to score a fifty and take five wickets in the same World Cup game. The latter, she achieved in the final India won – a fairytale finish if there was any. Why is she batting so low down the order here? No.8 and No.9 have both struck at 130. Despite her three fifties, she may not even get to bat.
Sophie Ecclestone (England)
M: 7 | 16 wickets at 14.25, ec 4.05, BBI: 4-17
The standout performer for England with the ball, Ecclestone was brilliant throughout the tournament. After breezing through the league stage, she had a four-wicket haul in the semi-final even as Wolvaardt systematically dismantled England.
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