Women's Cricket World Cup betting preview and tips

Recommended bets: Women’s Cricket World Cup

4pts Australia to win Women’s World Cup at 13/8 – certainties to reach last four, history and formline suggests 13/8 for two consecutive wins more than fair

1pt West Indies to win Women’s World Cup at 12/1 – 2013 runners-up likely to compete with India for final semi-final spot and always carry a big-game threat

1pt e.w. Amy Satterthwaite top batsman at 14/1 (1/4 1,2,3,4) – leading runscorer in ODI cricket since start of 2016 despite playing half as many games as nearest challenger

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England host the Women’s World Cup looking to end a disappointing eight-year wait for major silverware.

Their new-look, young side certainly has plenty of talent and flair and can’t be ruled out, but they look plenty short enough at around 5/2 second favourites.

It looks a fair assessment based on a qualification table that saw them finish three points clear of New Zealand, but the truth is that England have flattered to deceive on the biggest stages in recent years.

They failed to reach the final four years ago, and odds-against quotes about them doing so again on home soil catch the eye given the excellence of favourites Australia and the quality of those pursuing them.

The format, though, means it may well pay to wait until the semi-finals and just oppose England then.

Because, as with the men’s event in two years’ time, this World Cup has been saddled with a dreadful everyone-plays-everyone first-round group stage to decide the four semi-finalists.

It takes all the jeopardy – and therefore excitement – out of the early stages, with England, Australia and New Zealand all near certainties to reach the final four.

The early interest will be in finding out who joins them, with India and West Indies likely to be duking it out for the final knockout spot, although improving South Africa should not be completely discounted.

I like West Indies here. They finished fourth in the Women’s Championship table, condemning India to the qualifying event, and reached the final four years ago. Stafanie Taylor is one of the very best players in the world, and Deandra Dottin among the most dangerous. In a tournament that is likely to hinge on a small handful of actual and virtual knockout games, West Indies have match-winners and that could prove crucial against sides who may look better on paper but lack that X-factor.

India, it should be noted, are the form horse heading into the event. They’ve won 17 of their last 18 games, but only the very first of those wins came against one of the ‘big three’ and that at the end of a series against Australia that was lost.

It’s possible, of course, that continuing to just beat the rest will be enough to secure a top-four spot, but I’m not sure they have enough to win a big one-off game against any of the major teams. West Indies might be slightly less likely to reach the last four, but for me are more likely to do something if they do get there.

At 12/1 they look a good saver. And that’s because, as ever, the main bet of a women’s international cricket tournament is a straightforward one: Australia to win.

There have been 15 World Cups and World T20s in women’s cricket; Australia have won nine of them. They’ve won six of the 10 World Cups played, only twice failing to reach the final and never once finishing outside the top four. They have won 64 matches at World Cups, losing only nine.

And the more recent numbers are just as compelling. They won 18 out of 21 games in the Women’s Championship.

There is no chance of them missing out on the last four, and their recent record against all of their rivals suggests 13/8 for then winning two successive games under pressure is genuine value.

Elsewhere, Amy Satterthwaite looks solid each-way material at 14/1 (bet365) in the top batsman betting. She’s the leading ODI runscorer since the start of 2016 despite playing half the number of games as her nearest challenger.

Her record in the last 18 months is 1,051 runs in 17 innings at a ludicrous average of 87.58. In that time she’s played a similar number of games to Meg Lanning (5/2 fav), Mithali Raj (8/1) Suzie Bates (8/1) and Elysse Perry (9/1) and outscored them all with something to spare.

Satterthwaite has passed 50 nine times in her last 17 ODI innings, and converted four of those into centuries with unbeaten scores of 81 and 89 thrown in for good measure. That’s eye-catching, heavy scoring and, in a market dominated by Australians (the top three in the betting and four of the top eight will be in green and gold) who surely can’t all get the chance to rack up the runs required, she represents great value with each-way betting to four places.

Where to watch on TV: Sky Sports

Posted at 1510 BST on 21/06/17.