ICC Women's Championship set for exciting start

On Aug 21, reigning World Cup champion Australia will face Pakistan in a three One-Day International (ODI) series in Brisbane, while three-time winner England will play host to India for its three-match series at Scarborough and Lord’s.

The hosts of the Australian-Pakistan and England-India series will livestream matches via their respective websites.

The concept, proposed by the ICC Women’s Committee and approved by the ICC Board in the January 2014 meeting, is aimed at creating more extensive and meaningful bilateral playing programme for women’s cricket.  Other competing countries include New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

The tournament structure will see each team will play each other in one home or away series that will include three ODIs over a two and a half year period. As such, each side is guaranteed at least 21 ODIs over the tournament period.

Two points will be awarded for a win, while points will be shared in case of a tie or a no-result. At the conclusion of the seven rounds, the top four sides will gain automatic qualification to the ICC Women’s World Cup England 2017, while the bottom four sides will get a final chance of qualification through the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in 2017.

Looking ahead to the start of the series, Australia captain Meg Lanning said: “We can’t wait to kick off our campaign towards the ICC Women’s World Cup England 2017 when we take on Pakistan this month as part of the ICC Women’s Championship."

“As the reigning champions, we feel honoured that our first ODI will mark the official launch of the inaugural Championship," she said.

Lanning, who led her side to victory in this year’s ICC Women’s World Twenty20 2014, added: “The structure of the new Championship has provided us with a great opportunity to face a world-class team in Pakistan on home soil in a bilateral series. We have enjoyed some competitive matches against Pakistan in recent ICC events and I have no doubt that this series will be just as exciting.”

The 22-year-old skipper sits in fourth place in the Reliance ICC Women’s Player Rankings for ODI Batters list, which also includes three other Australians – ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 player of the final, Jessica Cameron (seventh), Alex Blackwell (ninth), and all-rounder Ellyse Perry (17th) – inside the top 20 list. Pakistan’s highest-ranked batter is Bismah Maroof in 15th position.

The top-ranked Australia bowlers in the Reliance ICC Women’s Player Rankings for ODI Bowlers are Erin Osborne (sixth) and Perry (seventh), while in the Pakistan camp, captain Sana Mir is in 10th place.

Speaking ahead of Thursday’s opener at Peter Burge Oval, Pakistan captain Sana Mir added: “This is our first bilateral series against Australia. Before this series, we have only played them in ICC Women’s World Cups. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to express our potential as cricketers; achieving our targets against the world champions will be pretty good.”

England and India will meet in Scarborough in the first ODI on Thursday. They will then play in Scarborough on 23rd August before facing each other in the third ODI at Lord’s on 26th August.

England captain Charlotte Edwards is excited to be leading her team in one of the first fixtures of the new tournament.

“As players, the new ICC Women’s Championship is a fantastic concept,” she said, adding: “It gives us real structure leading into the ICC Women’s World Cup in England in 2017, and makes every ODI series that we play between now and then significant.  Whenever I step out to play for England I want to win, but now more than ever before, every result really does matter.

“I cannot wait to lead the England women’s team against India in our first round of matches in the ICC Women’s Championship this summer," she said.

Edwards is currently ranked seventh in the batter rankings and is one of four England batters in the top 20 who are expected to appear in the first round fixtures, with Sarah Taylor (second), Lydia Greenway (11th) and Heather Knight (14th) also anticipated to appear.

The England bowling attack will be led by veterans Katherine Brunt and Jenny Gunn, who are currently in second and fourth places, respectively.  Other England bowlers inside the top 20 are Holly Colvin (ninth), Danielle Hazell (15th) and Laura Marsh (19th).

Looking ahead of the start of the ICC Women’s Championship, India captain Mithali Raj, who leads the women’s ODI batting rankings, said: “The India team and management is really excited to be playing in this inaugural competition and we are extremely focused and determined to kick off the series well in Scarborough.

“It is a new and exciting development for women’s cricket and it is great that the ICC is supporting a stronger structure for the game leading into the ICC Women’s World Cup England 2017.

“Historically, England has been an outstanding team in ODI cricket and they will be tough opponents on home soil. They have some excellent players and we know about their strength in depth. But we have a young and enthusiastic team and our players will take a lot of confidence from our win in last week’s Test match. If we can go up another level and look to improve the key areas of the game, then I know that we can be competitive.”

For India, Harmanpreet Kaur in sixth position is the other batter inside the top 10, while Jhulan Goswami (third) is the highest-ranked bowler.

In September, West Indies will host New Zealand for their three-ODI series, while Sri Lanka will host South Africa in October.

Squads

Australia (from): Meg Lanning (captain), Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell, Nicole Bolton, Jess Cameron, Sarah Coyte, Rene Farrell, Alyssa Healy (wkt), Julie Hunter, Jess Jonassen, Erin Osborne, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt

Pakistan (from): Sana Mir (captain), Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Asmavia Iqbal Khokhar, Bismah Maroof, Javeria Khan, Maham Tariq, Marina Iqbal, Nain Abidi, Nida Dar, Qanita Jalil, Sadia Yousaf, Sania Khan, Sidra Nawaz (wkt)

England (from): Charlotte Edwards (captain), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Kathryn Cross, Lydia Greenway, Jenny Gunn, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Heather Knight, Sonia Odedra, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Taylor (wkt), Lauren Winfield

India (from): Mithali Raj (captain), Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Karuna Jain (wkt), Thurush Kamini, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Nagarajan Niranjana, Shikha Pandey, Swagatika Rath, Poonam Raut, Shubhlakshmi Sharma, Vellaswamy Vanitha, Sushma Verma, Poonam Yadav

Forthcoming matches

Australia v Pakistan
21 August - First ODI, Brisbane
23 August – Second ODI, Brisbane
26 August – Third ODI, Brisbane

England v India

21 August – First ODI, Scarborough
23 August – Second ODI, Scarborough
25 August – Third ODI, Lord’s

ICC Women’s ODI Team Rankings

The ICC Women's Championship is being contested by the following eight teams who have been seeded according to their rankings following the ICC Women’s World Cup India 2013:

1.     Australia

2.     West Indies

3.     England

4.     New Zealand

5.     Sri Lanka

6.     South Africa

7.     India

8.     Pakistan

Following the completion of the round-robin matches, the final standings of the points table will represent each team’s final event ranking, and the top four teams will automatically qualify for the ICC WCWC 2017.

Reliance ICC Women’s Player Rankings for ODIs (as on 20 August, before the start of Australia-Pakistan and England-India series):

Batters

Rank      Player                 Team     Points  Avg                       Highest Ranking

   1         Mithali Raj          Ind         748         50.43                    839 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004

   2         Sarah Taylor        Eng        711         39.66                    803 v Aus at Chelmsford 2009

   3         Suzie Bates          NZ         672         37.75                    734 v WI at Kingston 2013

   4         Meg Lanning       Aus        660 *      41.14                    673 v Eng at Hove 2013

   5         Stafanie Taylor    WI         649         43.03                    765 v Ind at St Kitts (WP) 2012

   6         H Kaur                Ind         644    *    35.70                    673 v SL at Visakhapatnam 2014

   7=       C. Edwards          Eng        635         37.20                   723 v Aus at Hove 2013

             Jessica Cameron  Aus        635   *     37.06                   655 v Eng at Hove 2013

   9         Alex Blackwell    Aus        611         33.40                   683 v Ind at Canberra 2008

  10        A. Satterthwaite  NZ         574          28.79                   653 v Aus at Sydney 2012

  11        Lydia Greenway  Eng        572         30.57                    664 v NZ at Lincoln 2012

  12        Deandra Dottin    WI         548          25.45                   650 v NZ at Kingston 2013

  13        Javeria Khan        Pak        517          25.45                   544 v SA at Doha 2014

  14        Heather Knight    Eng        508   *!    29.17                  508 v Aus at Hobart 2014

  15        Bismah Maroof   Pak        507           23.18                  531 v SA at Doha 2014

  16        Mignon du Preez SA         506           33.28                  540 v SL at Potchefstroom 2013

  17        Ellyse Perry         Aus        499      !   28.40                  499 v Eng at Hobart 2014

  18        Marizanne Kapp  SA         497      *  30.56                   509 v Ire at Doha 2014

  19=      Sara McGlashan  NZ         488          23.42                   573 v Eng at Derby 2007

             Trisha Chetty       SA         488           30.09                   531 v SL at Potchefstroom 2013

Bowlers

Rank      Player    Team                 Points    Avg       Economy              Highest Ranking

   1         Stafanie Taylor    WI         709        16.82      2.98                       768 v NZ at Kingston 2013

   2         Katherine Brunt   Eng        671        21.25      3.29                       796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013

   3         Jhulan Goswami  Ind         643        21.57      3.20                       796 v Eng at Chennai 2007

   4         Jenny Gunn          Eng        632        27.70      3.75                       669 v Aus at Melbourne 2008

   5         Shanel Daley       WI         602   *    21.41      3.30                       638 v NZ at Kingston 2013

   6         Erin Osborne       Aus        580   *   26.07      3.93                       581 v Eng at Melbourne 2014

   7         Ellyse Perry         Aus        573        24.29      4.31                       698 v Ind at Mumbai 2012

   8         Sunette Loubser  SA         568  *!    17.53     3.04                        568 v Pak at Doha 2014

   9         Holly Colvin        Eng        560        21.80      3.58                       715 v Aus at Lord's 2009

  10        Sana Mir              Pak        556         24.71      3.40                      559 v SA at Doha 2014

  11        A Mohammed     WI         552         17.63      3.17                       658 v NZ at Mumbai 2013

  12        Shibnam Ismail   SA         551 *      20.20      3.51                       557 v Ire at Doha 2014

  13        Gouher Sultana    Ind         549  *    19.39      3.32                       590 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2012

  14        D van Niekerk      SA         520  *!   14.68     3.22                       520 v Pak at Doha 2014

  15=      Danielle Hazell   Eng        502  *!    32.06     3.95                      502 v Aus at Hobart 2014

             Sadia Yousuf       Pak        502  *      16.32     3.03                       524 v Ire at Doha 2014

  17        S Siriwardene       SL          493        23.24     3.67                      535 v Eng at Colombo (NCC) 2010

  18        Sian Ruck            NZ         485  *     32.75     3.68                       538 v WI at Kingston 2013

  19        Laura Marsh        Eng        477         27.56     3.87                       711 v Aus at Perth 2011

  20        Nicola Browne    NZ         470          34.14     3.94                      663 v Eng at Derby 2011

All-rounders

Rank      Player    Team                 Points                  Highest Ranking

   1         Stafanie Taylor    WI           460                       560 v NZ at Kingston 2013

   2         Ellyse Perry         Aus          286       !              286 v Eng at Hobart 2014

   3         Shanel Daley       WI            235       /*            273 v Aus at Mumbai 2013

   4         Marizanne Kapp  SA            226       */*          227 v Ire at Doha 2014

   5=       Jenny Gunn          Eng          216                      348 v Aus at Melbourne 2008

             D van Niekerk      SA            216       */*!         216 v Pak at Doha 2014

Image: Wikimedia Commons