WI makes the most of ICC Women’s Championship matches against NZ

The West Indies won all four ODIs against New Zealand, with the first three matches counting towards the ICC Women’s Championship. This event has been introduced to create a more extensive and meaningful bilateral playing programme for women’s cricket, with the top four sides from this competition qualifying for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.

The victories not only helped the West Indies to draw level with New Zealand at seven-all from 15 ODIs to date, it also put the ICC Women’s World Cup India 2013 losing finalist on top of the table on net run-rate. World champion Australia also won its matches against Pakistan and is on six points, but West Indies’ convincing victories has put it ahead by +0.35 on net run-rate. With six more rounds to be played in the tournament, plenty of movement at the top of the tree is on the cards.

The first round of the ICC Women’s Championship will conclude next month when South Africa will travel to Sri Lanka for a four-ODI series, with the first three to count towards the ICC Women’s Championship. The championship matches will be played in Colombo on 15, 17 and 19 October.

Meanwhile, the West Indies’ five wickets, 65 runs, eight wickets and four runs victories in the series have meant its players have also made gains in the player rankings.

Left-arm spinner Anisa Mohammed has led the charge in the bowlers’ rankings when she has jumped seven places to claim a career-high second position. Anisa captured 12 wickets in the four-match series, including eight wickets in the three ICC Women’s Championship matches. Her series best was in the second ODI when she bagged four for 32.

Anisa’s rise means the West Indies now boasts the top two-ranked bowlers, with Stafanie Taylor leading the pack. Shanel Daley in fifth position is the other West Indies bowler to feature inside the top 10.

Medium-pacers Tremayne Smartt and Shakera Selman are the other notable West Indies bowlers to head in the right direction. The medium-pacer returned figures of five for 24, one for 40, one for 14 and none for 20, for which he has been rewarded with a jump of 10 places that has put her in 16th position, while Selman’s three wickets in the series has given her a lift of 17 places that has put her in 21st position.

Amongst the batters, Deandra Dottin has returned to the top 10 after a consistent performance in the series in which she aggregated 176 runs in four matches. For this, she has been rewarded with a rise of three places that has put her in ninth position.

Stafanie Taylor has also gained one place and is now in fourth position, following her 159 runs in the four matches.

The good news for New Zealand is its batters Sophie Devine and Rachel Priest have made upward movements. Devine has achieved a career-best 19th position after rising 11 places following her contribution of 161 runs in four matches, while Priest has also achieved a career-high 33rd place (up by six places).

The batting table is headed by India captain Mithali Raj, who leads England’s Charlotte Edwards by 12 ratings points.

In the all-rounders’ category, Daley has leapfrogged Australia’s Ellyse Perry into second position.

Series results:

*First ODI, 12 Sep, St Kitts – West Indies won by five wickets

*Second ODI, 14 Sep, St Kitts – West Indies win by 65 runs

*Third ODI, St Kitts – West Indies won by eight wickets

Fourth ODI, St Kitts – West Indies won by four runs

Forthcoming first round matches:

Sri Lanka v South Africa

*15 Oct – First ODI, Colombo

*17 Oct – Second ODI, Colombo

*19 Oct – Third ODI, Colombo

21 Oct – Fourth ODI, Colombo

Reliance ICC ODI Women’s Rankings (as on 20 September, after the conclusion of West Indies-New Zealand series)

Batters

Rank      (+/-)      Player                   Team     Points    Avge      HS Ranking

   1         ( - )        Mithali Raj          Ind         735        50.05    839 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004

   2         ( - )        C.Edwards           Eng        723!      38.07    723 v Ind at Scarborough 2014

   3         ( - )        Sarah Taylor        Eng        707        39.71    803 v Aus at Chelmsford 2009

   4         (+1)       Stafanie Taylor    WI         697        43.50    765 v Ind at St Kitts (WP) 2012

   5         (-1)        Suzie Bates          NZ         651        37.20    734 v WI at Kingston 2013

   6         ( - )        H.Kaur                 Ind         640*     35.06    673 v SL at Visakhapatnam 2014

   7=       ( - )        Jessica Cameron  Aus        635        38.53    660 v Pak at Brisbane 2014

              ( - )        Meg Lanning       Aus        635*     39.22    673 v Eng at Hove 2013

   9         (+3)       Deandra Dottin    WI         626        27.44    650 v NZ at Kingston 2013

  10        (-1)        Alex Blackwell    Aus        602        33.79    683 v Ind at Canberra 2008

Selected rakings

Rank      (+/-)      Player                   Team     Points    Avge      HS Ranking

  15        (-5)        A.Satterthwaite   NZ         524        27.49    653 v Aus at Sydney 2012

  19        (+11)     Sophie Devine     NZ         470        23.23    473 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2014

  22        (-4)        Sara McGlashan  NZ         428        22.63    573 v Eng at Derby 2007

  26        (-4)        Nicola Browne    NZ         414        27.05    645 v Aus at Lincoln 2008

  30        (+5)       Shanel Daley       WI         397        21.29    473 v NZ at Mumbai 2013

  33        (+6)       Rachel Priest       NZ         391*!    24.15    391 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2014

  35        (-5)        S.Campbelle        WI         387        19.58    403 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014

  37        (-9)        Katie Perkins       NZ         381*     28.87    422 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2014

  44        (-7)        M.Aguilleira        WI         347        18.98    526 v SA at St Kitts (WP) 2013

  45        (+16)     Kycia Knight       WI         339*!    19.30    339 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014

Bowlers

Rank      (+/-)      Player                   Team     Pts         Avge    HS Ranking

   1         ( - )        Stafanie Taylor    WI         723        17.16    768 v NZ at Kingston 2013

   2         (+7)       A.Mohammed     WI         696!      16.67    696 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014

   3         (-1)        Jenny Gunn          Eng        693!      27.00    693 v Ind at Scarborough 2014

   4         (-1)        Jhulan Goswami  Ind         671        21.36    796 v Eng at Chennai 2007

   5         ( - )        Shanel Daley       WI         664*!    21.56    664 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014

   6         (-2)        Katherine Brunt   Eng        653        21.52    796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013

   7         (-1)        Sana Mir              Pak        590        23.84    598 v Aus at Brisbane 2014

   8         (-1)        Sunette Loubser  SA         568*!    17.53    568 v Pak at Doha 2014

   9         (-1)        Erin Osborne       Aus        567*     26.56    581 v Eng at Melbourne 2014

  10        ( - )        Shibnam Ismail   SA         551*     20.20    557 v Ire at Doha 2014

Selected rankings

Rank      (+/-)      Player                   Team     Pts       Avge              HS Ranking

  16        (+10)     Tremayne Smartt WI         500*     29.54    524 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014

  17        (+4)       Morna Nielsen     NZ         498*!    26.03    498 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2014

  21        (+17)     Shakera Selman   WI         463*     24.92    467 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014

  25        (-7)        Sian Ruck            NZ         447*     32.75    538 v WI at Kingston 2013

  29        (+11)     S.Quintyne           WI         417*!    24.76    417 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014

  47        ( - )        Sophie Devine     NZ         294        40.43    510 v Ind at Sydney 2009

  48        (+2)       Suzie Bates          NZ         288        30.22    294 v WI at Lincoln 2014

All-rounders

Rank      (+/-)      Player                   Team     Points                    Highest Ranking

   1         ( - )        Stafanie Taylor    WI         504       560 v NZ at Kingston 2013

   2         (+1)       Shanel Daley       WI         264 /*   273 v Aus at Mumbai 2013

   3         (-1)        Ellyse Perry         Aus        243       286 v Eng at Hobart 2014

   4         ( - )        Jenny Gunn          Eng        232       348 v Aus at Melbourne 2008

   5         ( - )        Marizanne Kapp  SA         226*/*  227 v Ire at Doha 2014

Image: Wikimedia Commons