The 1978 Women's Cricket World Cup was an international cricket tournament played in India from 1 to 13 January 1978. Hosted by India for the first time, it was the second edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, after the inaugural 1973 World Cup in England. It was originally proposed that South Africa host the World Cup, but this was abandoned to conform with the Apartheid-era sporting boycott of the country. The Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) then made a successful bid, and served as the primary organiser, with the International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC) providing only limited oversight. Along with India, which was making its debut, five other teams were originally invited – Australia, England, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the West Indies. The Netherlands and the West Indies, which had both not previously participated, were forced to withdraw due to financial issues. The four teams that did compete (the lowest number in the tournament's history) played a round-robin tournament of three matches each, with Australia going undefeated to claim its first title. Australia's captain, Margaret Jennings, led the tournament in runs, while her teammate, Sharyn Hill, led the tournament in wickets. Three of the five highest scorers as well as three of the five leading wicket-takers in the tournament were from Australia. Sharon Tredrea featured in both lists, being the second-highest wicket-taker and fourth-highest scorer of the tournament.

Squads

Information is only available for players who played at least one match at the tournament.

Venues

Warm-up matches

At least five warm-up matches were played against various local Indian teams, all but one of which came before the tournament.

Group stage

Points table

Matches

New Zealand vs Australia

India vs England

New Zealand vs India

India vs Australia

New Zealand vs England

England vs Australia

Both Australia and England went into the last match of the tournament undefeated, which meant it functioned as a de facto final, akin to the Uruguay v Brazil match at the 1950 Football World Cup. England's Megan Lear later recounted that the "most memorable part of [the] tournament was playing in front of crowds of 40,000 plus".

Statistics

Most runs

The top five runscorers are included in this table, ranked by runs scored and then by batting average. Source: ESPNcricinfo CricketArchive

Most wickets

The top five wicket takers are listed in this table, ranked by wickets taken and then by bowling average. Source: ESPNcricinfo