The history girls: Fifty years after the first World Cup – Almanack

The 1973 Women’s World Cup was cricket’s first limited-overs global tournament. Raf Nicholson’s piece originally appeared in the 2023 edition of Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack.

Wisden barely mentioned cricket’s first World Cup, held in 1973. In his Notes, editor Norman Preston focused instead on the “end of the Illingworth era”, changes to the County Championship, and preparations by Mike Denness’ team for the winter Ashes. Enid Bakewell might easily have been a Cricketer of the Year, having scored 118 against Australia in what amounted to the final, but it would be 35 years before a woman was among the Five. At last, near the back of the book, just before Births and Deaths, is a report of little more than a page and a half by Netta Rheinberg.

The Almanack’s attitude to the pioneering endeavours

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