Archive October 1, 2025

Indore, ICC Women’s World Cup

Australia 326 all out (49.3 overs): Gardner 115 (83), Tahuhu 3-42

New Zealand 237 all out (43.2 overs): Devine 112 (112), Molineux 3-26

89 runs led Australia to win.

Australia defeated New Zealand 89-run to win the Women’s World Cup title in Indore, which was a superb lower-order century for Ash Gardner as they defended their women’s title.

The all-rounder helped her team recover from a 128-5 defeat, helping them to finish with a 326-run lead after seven-time champions.

Sophie Devine, the captain of New Zealand, scored a defiant century with her team’s 0-2 lead before abruptly threatening to halt the White Ferns’ remarkable victory.

In Annabel Sutherland’s 43rd over, she hammered 12 fours and three sixes as Australia snuffed out any chance of winning the opening game. She also became the first of three New Zealand wickets to fall in her run-a-ball 112.

After Alyssa Healy won the toss and chose to bat, Phoebe Litchfield’s team jumped out to a flying start, going 81-1 at the end of the powerplay with a 31-ball 45.

However, Melie Kerr’s first ball of the 11th over resulted in the 22-year-old being bowled by the Australian charge until Gardner arrived.

Prior to being snuck in behind Bree Illing, Gardner marshalled partnerships of 64 and 69 with Tahlia McGrath and Kim Garth.

Devine’s innings took a slow start as she rebuilt with Kerr and a 75-run partnership, but New Zealand’s innings grew more quickly as they needed 91 to reach the 42-over mark.

Australia are the tournament’s toughest team, and Alyssa Healy’s side showed signs of the kind of talent that has helped them win so many international titles.

The overwhelming quality of their line-up, despite not performing at their best against their Trans-Tasman rivals, was sufficient to rescue their side from the binds they occasionally found themselves in throughout the match.

Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham, Heather Graham, and Megan Schutt, all of whom were signed as overseas players in the recent Hundred season, are among Healy’s side’s stars, strong enough to make up for them.

In her aggressive innings, Gardner recorded 16 fours and one six, but a lower order supported her as well, with Garth (38), Sophie Molineux (26), and McGrath (26), all contributing valuable runs.

In the second over, Suzie Bates, the former bowler, was superbly bowled by Molineux and Darcie Brown after Georgia Plimmer was run-out without facing.

Sutherland gave up just 25 runs in her first eight overs, while Melie Kerr and Brooke Halliday, who had two potential long-term partners at the crease, took the crucial middle-order wickets of Alana King and Melie Kerr.

I’m so proud of the fight this team put up. We continued to use our strengths. I’m very proud of it. Although the outcome did not go our way, it is irrelevant.

Alyssa Healy, the captain of Australia, said, “It felt tighter than I would have liked.”

You never know when Sophie [Devine] is there. Our girls deserve praise for sticking in there.

A Thursday Fifa council meeting in Zurich did not include Israel’s participation in football on the agenda.

Following a UN commission of inquiry’s conclusion last month that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the main decision-making body of Fifa is convening.

Although it is not on the agenda, it might be brought up in the “miscellaneous” section.

Israel’s participation in international football will be a subject of discussion, according to BBC Sport’s contact.

Amnesty International recently urged the Israeli Football Association (IFA) to halt play at the World Cup and Uefa, which organizes European competitions.

Victor Montagliani, the vice president of FIFA, has suggested that Uefa should decide.

“First and foremost, I have to deal with a member of my region for whatever reason because Israel is a member of Uefa.” He said, “They have to deal with that.”

In their qualifying group for the World Cup, Israel is six points clear of Norway’s leaders in Uefa’s organization.

The winners of each group’s play-offs are automatically followed by the runners-up, with the top team from each group automatically qualifying for the tournament.

The US, Mexico, and Canada will host the 2026 World Cup on a co-hosted basis.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has vowed to stop any attempts to obstruct Israel’s participation.

According to the UN report, there are logical grounds to believe that four of the five genocidal crimes have been committed since the war’s start in 2023.

Following that, a panel of UN human rights experts demanded that Fifa and Uefa ban Israel’s national team from international competition, saying: “Sports must reject the perception that it is business as usual.”

Israel has consistently disputed that the actions taken in Gaza constitute a genocide and that they are necessary as a means of self-defense. The UN report was deemed “distorted and false” by its foreign ministry.

Reebok, a sports brand, called it “simply not true” that it requested the IFA remove its logos from its team kits.

Reebok and the local franchisee, IFA president Moshe Zuares, and the company’s representatives exchanged the company’s statement, which read, “The company reversed its decision to end its contract with Israel national teams,” according to a statement released by the IFA.

Reebok “is proud of our record as a unifier of all cultures on and off the pitch,” according to a Reebok spokesman.

A Thursday Fifa council meeting in Zurich did not include Israel’s participation in football on the agenda.

Following a UN commission of inquiry’s conclusion last month that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the main decision-making body of Fifa is convening.

Although it is not on the agenda, it might be brought up in the “miscellaneous” section.

Israel’s participation in international football will be a subject of discussion, according to BBC Sport’s contact.

Amnesty International recently urged the Israeli Football Association (IFA) to halt play at the World Cup and Uefa, which organizes European competitions.

Victor Montagliani, the vice president of FIFA, has suggested that Uefa should decide.

“First and foremost, I have to deal with a member of my region for whatever reason because Israel is a member of Uefa.” He said, “They have to deal with that.”

In their qualifying group for the World Cup, Israel is six points clear of Norway’s leaders in Uefa’s organization.

The winners of each group’s play-offs are automatically followed by the runners-up, with the top team from each group automatically qualifying for the tournament.

The US, Mexico, and Canada will host the 2026 World Cup on a co-hosted basis.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has vowed to stop any attempts to obstruct Israel’s participation.

According to the UN report, there are logical grounds to believe that four of the five genocidal crimes have been committed since the war’s start in 2023.

Following that, a panel of UN human rights experts demanded that Fifa and Uefa ban Israel’s national team from international competition, saying: “Sports must reject the perception that it is business as usual.”

Israel has consistently disputed that the actions taken in Gaza constitute a genocide and that they are necessary as a means of self-defense. The UN report was deemed “distorted and false” by its foreign ministry.

Reebok, a sports brand, called it “simply not true” that it requested the IFA remove its logos from its team kits.

Reebok and the local franchisee, IFA president Moshe Zuares, and the company’s representatives exchanged the company’s statement, which read, “The company reversed its decision to end its contract with Israel national teams,” according to a statement released by the IFA.

Reebok “is proud of our record as a unifier of all cultures on and off the pitch,” according to a Reebok spokesman.