World T20 pain driving Stars: Blackwell

The pain of losing this year's World T20 final has made the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars more determined than ever to defend their one-day World Cup title next year, vice-captain Alex Blackwell has declared.

The Southern Stars remain the World No.1 team despite that loss to the West Indies in Kolkata and one year out from the 2017 tournament's final, to be played at Lord's on July 23 next year, Blackwell said the Australians were desperate to maintain that position and successfully defend a 50-over title for the first time since 1988.

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"We always love playing in World Cups and we've had a lot of success in World Cup cricket over the past few decades. Australia have always been up there and we want to continue that tradition,” Blackwell told cricket.com.au.

"We really hurt after the World T20 final loss, so that gives us extra motivation, I think."

The 2017 tournament will begin on June 26 next year, with eight teams going head to head in 31 matches, with games to be played in Bristol, Derby, Leicester and Taunton ahead of the final at Lord's.

With the rest of the world closing the gap on traditionally strong teams Australia, England and New Zealand, Blackwell said the Southern Stars knew the pressure was on to ensure they remained ahead of the pack.

"We're all celebrating that women's cricket has moved forward in leaps and bounds over the past five years.

"Our job as Australia players is to always be trying to win, whoever it is, but we know team now has that ability to knock us off."

The Southern Stars currently sit on top of the inaugural International Cricket Council Women's Championship table with two rounds of matches remaining.

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The championship – which the ICC is considering implementing for men's ODIs from 2019 – sees the world's top eight teams meet in at least three ODIs over a two-and-a-half-year period.

"We've had consistent success in one-day cricket over a long period of time, " Blackwell added.

"We're on top of that at the moment so we've got to finish that off and really dominate there, so we go into the World Cup as the number one team.

"That's a real goal for us at the moment."

The top four teams at the end of this year will earn automatic qualification to next year's World Cup in England.

The four sides in the second half of the table will play off against associate teams including Bangladesh, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Scotland and Papua New Guinea in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier.

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The women's game is attracting more attention than ever before, with sell-out crowds attending last year's Women's Ashes in England and record television audiences tuning in for the inaugural Women's Big Bash League and the Southern Stars’ home matches against India last summer.

Unsurprisingly, the 2017 World Cup is expected to be the best watched and attended to date.

On Saturday, the ICC released its logo for the 2017 event, which "reflects the unique connection between the spirit of the sport and its place of origin in England and Wales".

"With the ICC Women’s World Cup taking place in the sport’s spiritual home of England and Wales, it can’t get any bigger than this for women’s cricket," ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said in a statement.

"And this is nicely encapsulated in the logo, which reflects a celebration of women’s cricket in the host country colours.

"The next 12 months will be exciting for women’s cricket as the top nations aim for the ultimate prize in women’s cricket. The sport is on a high and I am sure next year’s event will take it to even greater heights with outstanding cricket and record breaking attendances."