Lanning, Kapp and Taylor lead rankings going into ICC Women’s World Cup 2017

The 24 June to 23 July tournament, which will be held across five venues in the United Kingdom, could see several changes in individual rankings as 28 league matches and the two semi-finals and final provide players from the world a huge platform.

Defending champion and six-time winner Australia’s campaign will be led by captain Meg Lanning, who tops the batters’ list in the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings by a comfortable margin of 51 points over India captain Mithali Raj.

Lanning, who is the only player to have scored 10 ODI centuries and averages over 50 in the format, will get a chance to consolidate her position at the top as Elysse Perry and Alex Blackwell will be aiming to improve their rankings of sixth and seventh, respectively.

Left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen will be the highest-ranked Australia bowler in the tournament at a career-best fifth position while pace bowlers Ellyse Perry (ninth) and Megan Schutt (20th) are the others among the top 20.

For three-time winner England, which has won the World Cup both times it has hosted it – in 1973 and 1993 – captain Heather Knight leads the batting line-up in 11th position while Sarah Taylor (12th) and Natalie Sciver (15th) will be looking to close in on the top 10.

Pace bowler Katherine Brunt (fourth) will be hoping to leapfrog India’s Jhulan Goswami, who is just five points ahead of her at 611 points. Off-spinners Danielle Hazell (14th) and Laura Marsh (15th) are at 510 and 509 points, respectively, and with a chance to move up as they are in a cluster that has another three other bowlers within three points.

For India, former number one batter Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur (ninth) remain the top names but the progress of left-handed opener Deepti Sharma (23rd) will be keenly watched after her epic 320-run stand with Poonam Raut against Ireland last month, which is the highest partnership in women’s ODIs.

Among bowlers, Goswami, who became the highest wicket-taker in ODIs after surpassing Cathryn Fitzpatrick’s total of 180 wickets, will be looking to move up from her third position while left-arm spinners Ekta Bisht (sixth) and Rajeshwari Gayakwad (13th) will face the challenge of bowling well in English conditions.

New Zealand, the 2000 champion, boasts two batters with solid credentials among the top four. Amy Satterthwaite, who last year scored four successive ODI centuries, is ranked third, while captain Suzie Bates too has a huge reputation as she was the leading run-scorer in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2013.

Pace bowler Lea Tahuhu (11th) will be looking to break into the top 10 while leg-spinner Erin Bermingham will be featuring in her first ICC Women’s World Cup after reasonable success in three ICC Women’s World Twenty20 championships.

Pakistan captain Sana Mir is the most high-profile player from her side at eighth position among bowlers with left-arm spinner Sadia Yousaf (23rd) another experienced campaigner. The pair of Javeria Wadood (17th) and Bismah Maroof (18th) will be expected to shoulder the team’s batting responsibilities.

For Sri Lanka, captain Inoka Ranaweera and former captain Chamari Athapaththu are both ranked 24th among bowlers and batsmen, respectively, and would be hoping to inspire their team to some surprise wins after beating Pakistan in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2017 held in Colombo in February.

South Africa has the satisfaction of seeing Marizanne Kapp at the top of the bowlers’ list, with Shabnim Ismail in 10th position. Lizelle Lee (10th), who partnered in a record 163-run opening stand with Dane van Niekerk in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 2014 match against Pakistan but is in her first World Cup, is the top-ranked batter from her side with Mignon de Preez (13th) and Chloe Tryon (14th) not too far behind.

For the West Indies, captain Stafanie Taylor is the big star, currently ranked second among bowlers, fifth among batters and the top all-rounder with a massive lead of 57 points over Elysse Perry of Australia.

Deandra Dottin (eighth) among batters and Anisa Mohammed (seventh) among bowlers will be others whose rankings will be watched with interest as the reigning ICC Women’s World Twenty20 champion and last time’s runner-up side will be looking to do one better this time.

There are no separate ODI team rankings for women but the results of the ICC Women’s World Cup will have a bearing on the Women’s Team Rankings, which are a combination of ODI and Twenty20 International results.

Australia leads the table currently with 128 points. It could be overtaken by England (122 points) if the host wins all its matches and Australia also loses to New Zealand and the West Indies or fares worse. New Zealand is placed third with 119 points while India (111) is not far behind. South Africa is on 91 points, Pakistan on 76 and Sri Lanka on 67 points.

MRF Tyres ICC Women’s ODI Rankings (as on 22 June 2017, before the ICC Women’s World Cup)

Top 20 batters:

Rank      Player                  Team     Points   Avge      Highest Rating

   1         Meg Lanning        Aus        807       52.37     834 v NZ at Bay Oval 2016

   2         Mithali Raj            Ind         756       52.08     839 v Aus at Baroda 2004

   3         A. Satterthwaite   NZ          733       37.59     756 v Aus at Bay Oval 2017

   4         Suzie Bates          NZ          694       41.08     775 v Aus at Bay Oval 2016

   5         Stafanie Taylor     WI          687       44.42     765 v Ind at St Kitts 2012

   6         Ellyse Perry          Aus        681       47.47     730 v SA at Canberra 2016

   7         Alex Blackwell      Aus        623       34.91     683 v Ind at Canberra 2008

   8         Deandra Dottin     WI          583       27.82     650 v NZ at Kingston 2013

   9         H. Kaur                Ind          562       34.00     679 v SA at Bangalore 2014

  10        Lizelle Lee            SA          560       29.14     646 v Ban at Cox's Bazar 2017

  11        Heather Knight     Eng        539       32.58     563 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2016

  12        Sarah Taylor        Eng        534       39.76     803 v Aus at Chelmsford 2009

  13        M. du Preez         SA          530       31.72     553 v Aus at Canberra 2016

  14        Chloe Tryon         SA          528       23.25     532 v Ire at Potchefstroom (N 2017

  15        Natalie Sciver       Eng        527*!     44.05     527 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2016

  16        Trisha Chetty       SA          520       32.42     585 v Ire at Malahide 2016

  17        Javeria Wadood   Pak        513       30.60    573 v SA at Sharjah 2015

  18        Bismah Maroof     Pak        507       26.56    570 v NZ at Lincoln 2016

  19        D.van Niekerk      SA          494       32.85    547 v Ind at Colombo (PSS) 2017

  20        Nicole Bolton        Aus        490*      41.89    525 v SA at New South Wales 2016 

Top 20 bowlers

Rank      Player                  Team     Points  Avge      Eco.      Highest Rating

   1         Marizanne Kapp   SA          665       25.86     3.55      689 v Ind at Potchefstroom (N 2017

   2         Stafanie Taylor     WI          636       18.66     3.09      768 v NZ at Kingston 2013

   3         Jhulan Goswami  Ind         611       21.70     3.19      796 v Eng at Chennai 2007

   4         Katherine Brunt    Eng        606       21.86     3.35      796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013

   5         Jess Jonassen     Aus        598*!     22.28     4.09      598 v NZ at Bay Oval 2017

   6         Ekta Bisht             Ind         586*!     19.53     3.34      586 v SA at Potchefstroom 2017

   7         A. Mohammed     WI          577       18.58     3.30      704 v Aus at Sydney 2014

   8         Sana Mir                              Pak       569       26.61     3.61      610 v SA at Sharjah 2015

   9         Ellyse Perry          Aus        558       24.34     4.33      698 v Ind at Mumbai 2012

  10        Shabnim Ismail    SA          543       19.67     3.50      641 v Eng at Johannesburg 2016

  11        Lea Tahuhu          NZ          514*      32.15     4.20      529 v Aus at Auckland 2017

  12        Morna Nielsen      NZ          512*      26.75     3.61      586 v SA at Paarl 2016

  13        R. Gayakwad       Ind         511*      16.29     3.24      540 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2017

  14        Danielle Hazell     Eng        510*      29.08     3.78      545 v NZ at Lincoln 2015

  15        Laura Marsh         Eng        509       26.28     3.79      711 v Aus at Perth 2011

  16        Shikha Pandey     Ind         491*!     18.64     3.59      491 v SA at Potchefstroom 2017

  17        Jenny Gunn         Eng        484       27.61     3.77      693 v Ind at Scarborough 2014

  18        A. Khaka                              SA        477*      28.20     3.97      498 v Ind at Colombo (PSS) 2017

  19        D. van Niekerk     SA          469       18.76     3.52      583 v Ind at Bangalore 2014

  20        Megan Schutt       Aus        455*      25.30     4.42      529 v SL at Dambulla 2016

Top 10 all-rounders

Rank      Player                  Team     Points   Highest Rating

   1         Stafanie Taylor     WI          437       559 v NZ at Kingston 2013

   2         Ellyse Perry          Aus        380       446 v NZ at Bay Oval 2016

   3         Marizanne Kapp   SA          313       328 v Ire at Potchefstroom 2017

   4         Suzie Bates          NZ          279       336 v Aus at Bay Oval 2016

   5         A. Satterthwaite   NZ          275 /*    287 v Aus at Bay Oval 2017

   6         D. van Niekerk     SA          232       284 v Ind at Colombo (PSS) 2017

   7         Heather Knight     Eng        207 /*    228 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2016

   8         Jhulan Goswami  Ind         206       308 v Aus at Canberra 2016

   9         Sune Luus            SA          202*/*!   202 v Ind at Potchefstroom 2017

  10        Deepti Sharma     Ind         197*/*!   197 v SA at Potchefstroom 2017