LONDON: England are the bookies' favourites to win the
ICC
Women's Cricket World Cup final at Lord's on Sunday.
UK bookmaker
William Hill
has odds of 4/7 that host England will win and 11/8 that India will win, whilst
Ladbrokes
makes
Heather Knight
's side 8/15 shots, with
Mithali Raj's side lifting the coveted trophy priced at 6/4.
Ladbrokes and William Hill said this was the most popular Women's Cricket World Cup ever in terms of the number and total amount of bets staked.
More than 26,500 fans, half of whom are women, are expected to attend the event making it the biggest crowd ever at an ICC Women's World match.
William Hill spokesman
Rupert Adams
said England was "odds on as the strong favourite to win".
"The reason is it's going to be a packed house, which I don't think either team will be used to and it will be a very partisan crowd and it's our conditions," Adams said.
"Both teams have played extremely well but the England team have not relied on one or two specific players. They seem to have a more well-rounded team so we just feel the England side is strengthened and on a big occasion like this it is very easy for a big player to fail, which is why we have gone for the strength and depth of England," he added.
Adams said Sunday's game would be the biggest in the history of female cricket in terms of interest and turnover. "We have had three times the number of bets of all the previous tournaments and even more than that in terms of the amounts bet."
Ladbrokes said it faced a huge payout if England win.
"As far as betting interest goes, this has comfortably been the most popular
Women's World Cup in terms of bets staked, with England heading into the tournament as the most backed team - meaning we could face a hefty pay-out come close of play this weekend," said Alex Apati of Ladbrokes.
"It's no surprise to see England priced as slight favourites here, but don't be fooled by India's odds," Apati said, with some optimism for India.
"It would not be a huge surprise if England didn't win as the Indian odds of 6/4 are not too long - stranger things have happened. India headed into their clash with Australia as underdogs as far as we were concerned and they proved us wrong there! So India will be heading into the final with momentum," Apati added.
India were the undisputed underdogs in the semi-final match against defending world champions Australia at Derby on Thursday and yet they defied the odds and beat Australia by 36 runs.
Ladbrokes puts captain Heather Knight at 7/2 to be the top England runscorer and England wicket keeper-batter
Sarah Taylor at 5/2, while Mithali Raj is at 5/2 to be the top India runscorer and
Harmanpreet Kaur 7/2. William Hill has Kaur at 4/1 as the top Indian batswoman and Raj at 5/2.
Kaur played one of the greatest innings in women's cricket on Thursday when she smashed the highest score by an Indian player at a World Cup with 171 as India made 281/4 in 42 overs against Australia.
Apati said, "Looking at potential match winners, both captains could play a huge part in winning this trophy. There's some great value in backing Heather Knight to be top runscorer for the favourites, while plenty have got behind Mithali Raj to do the same for her country'.
Since its inception in 1973 the Cup has been won by either Australia or England, with New Zealand's victory in 2000 being the only exception.
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