India and New Zealand aiming for upward ICC Women's Championship movement
The series includes five ODIs but only the first three matches scheduled for 28 June, 1 and 3 July will count towards the eight-team ICC Women’s Championship. The top four sides from this tournament will qualify automatically for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, while the bottom four sides will play in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier.
India is currently rooted to the bottom of the table on three points, with the White Ferns a point and a place ahead in seventh. A 3-0 series victory for the visitors would see it move to joint third place alongside the West Indies, while a 2-1 win would see both sides rise up the table; New Zealand into joint fourth while India would leapfrog Sri Lanka.
India knows that it can rise to fourth place on nine points, above Pakistan, with a clean sweep in the series.
Looking ahead to the three-match ODI series, India captain Mithali Raj said: “This series of games is vitally important as we bid to improve our standing in the Women’s Championship, and we know that we will be facing a well-drilled and talented New Zealand side. Our preparation has been good and there’s a positive feeling in the squad that we can turn around our form and get the win. If we can execute our game-plan and play a consistent brand of attacking cricket, then we are confident that we can cause the White Ferns some problems.
“There are some new faces in the squad and we believe that they will supplement our squad for this series and going forward as well. There’s a huge incentive for teams to perform well in this series and we’re focused on the task at hand. We’re excited to be playing at home and are hopeful that we can count on a strong following in Bangalore.”
White Ferns captain Suzie Bates said: “We’re really excited to be playing in India, and with it being a home series for them, they will be tough especially in their own conditions. Last year we learned from going over to the West Indies after our winter and not having as much preparation as we would have liked. It’s great that New Zealand Cricket have supported us by sending us over a week or so earlier to get out in the middle and bat in those conditions.
“It’s really different coming from batting indoors to batting on grass, so we’re exciting about getting the few days training under our belt as a team. We know that the (ICC Women’s Championship) points come in the first three games, but we also want to win the five-match series. Winning the first three games is massive for qualification for (the ICC Women’s World Cup in) 2017 and those are the three games that the team want to win and win well. That's why we want to hit the ground running in these seven to 10 days beforehand so we're not playing catch up.”
Meanwhile, India will look to Jhulan Goswami who is currently the top ranked bowler in the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Bowlers as it bids to improve its ranking heading into the series. The medium-pace bowler has been in fine form of late in the competition and is also the highest ranked all-rounder in the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for All-rounders where she lies in fifth place on 233 points, three adrift of South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp. For New Zealand, Morna Nielsen (14th) is her side’s highest ranked bowler.
In the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Batters, sixth place White Ferns skipper Suzie Bates is the leading batter on her side and she will have her opposite number Mithali Raj (in fourth place on 680 points) and Harmanpreet Kaur (fifth place on 678 points) in her sights. New Zealand has two further batters inside the top 20; Amy Satterthwaite (14th) and Rachel Priest (17th).
Squads
India (from): Mithali Raj (captain), Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smriti Mandhana, Niranjana Nagarajan, Shikha Pandey, Kalpana R, Sneh Rana, Poonam Raut, Deepti Sharma, M.D. Thirushkamini, Poonam Yadav
New Zealand (from): Suzie Bates (captain), Kate Broadmore, Sophie Devine, Natalie Dodd, Maddy Green, Georgia Guy, Leigh Kasperek, Morna Nielsen, Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Hannah Rowe, Amy Satterthwaite, Lea Tahuhu
Forthcoming fixtures:
India v New Zealand
28 June – First ODI, Bangalore
1 July – Second ODI, Bangalore
3 July – Third ODI, Bangalore
England v Australia
21 July – First ODI, Taunton
23 July – Second ODI, Bristol
26 July – Third ODI, Worcester
Reliance ICC Women’s Player Rankings on ODIs (as on 25 June, ahead of India-New Zealand series):
Batters
Rank Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
1 Sarah Taylor Eng 746 40.83 803 v Aus at Chelmsford 2009
2 C. Edwards Eng 731 38.49 749 v NZ at Lincoln 2015
3 Meg Lanning Aus 727*! 45.64 727 v WI at Bowral 2014
4 Mithali Raj Ind 680 48.88 839 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004
5 H. Kaur Ind 678*! 36.38 678 v SA at Bangalore 2014
6 Suzie Bates NZ 668 36.95 734 v WI at Kingston 2013
7 Stafanie Taylor WI 657 43.26 765 v Ind at St Kitts (WP) 2012
8 Deandra Dottin WI 620 28.73 650 v NZ at Kingston 2013
9 Jessica Cameron Aus 580 37.63 660 v Pak at Brisbane 2014
10 Alex Blackwell Aus 561 33.16 683 v Ind at Canberra 2008
Selected Rankings:
Rank Player Team Pts Ave HS Ranking
14 A.Satterthwaite NZ 534 27.86 653 v Aus at Sydney 2012
17 Rachel Priest NZ 506 27.23 520 v Eng at Bay Oval 2015
21 Sophie Devine NZ 484! 23.47 484 v Eng at Lincoln 2015
24 Katie Perkins NZ 425*! 31.55 425 v Eng at Lincoln 2015
26 Poonam Raut Ind 402* 26.27 466 v Eng at Lord's 2012
33 Nicola Browne NZ 374 27.05 645 v Aus at Lincoln 2008
34= Sara McGlashan NZ 373 22.05 573 v Eng at Derby 2007
S. Mandhana Ind 373* 26.90 379 v SA at Bangalore 2014
36 Amita Sharma Ind 368 16.83 505 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2012
43 Jhulan Goswami Ind 345 13.01 349 v SA at Bangalore 2014
Bowling
Rank Player Team Pts Ave Highest Ranking
1 Jhulan Goswami Ind 676 21.05 3.19 796 v Eng at Chennai 2007
2 An. Mohammed WI 672 17.38 3.22 704 v Aus at Sydney 2014
3 Katherine Brunt Eng 665 22.65 3.32 796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013
4 Stafanie Taylor WI 659 18.14 3.08 768 v NZ at Kingston 2013
5 Jenny Gunn Eng 619 27.66 3.75 693 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
6 Sana Mir Pak 602 23.28 3.41 610 v SA at Sharjah 2015
7 Shibnam Ismail SA 583* 18.40 3.45 595 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
8 D. van Niekerk SA 579* 16.13 3.24 583 v Ind at Bangalore 2014
9 Shanel Daley WI 568 22.09 3.33 664 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
10 Erin Osborne Aus 564 25.82 3.98 581 v Eng at Melbourne 2014
Selected Rankings:
14 Morna Nielsen NZ 516* 27.70 3.64 532 v Eng at Bay Oval 2015
24 Ekta Bisht Ind 440*! 22.29 3.61 440 v SA at Bangalore 2014
34 Amita Sharma Ind 369 32.52 3.73 646 v Pak at Karachi 2005
42 N. Niranjana Ind 340* 24.95 3.96 394 v Ban at Ahmedabad 2013
45 Sophie Devine NZ 333 39.93 4.43 510 v Ind at Sydney 2009
46 Lea Tahuhu NZ 332*! 39.81 4.33 332 v Eng at Lincoln 2015
50 Suzie Bates NZ 307 31.13 5.16 314 v Eng at Bay Oval 2015
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points Highest Ranking
1 Stafanie Taylor WI 433 560 v NZ at Kingston 2013
2 Ellyse Perry Aus 296! 296 v WI at Bowral 2014
3 D. van Niekerk SA 281*/*! 281 v Pak at Sharjah 2015
4 Marizanne Kapp SA 236/* 273 v Ind at Bangalore 2014
5 Jhulan Goswami Ind 233 245 v Aus at Ahmedabad 2012
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