Gardner, Schutt among Australian stars to make good ground on updated ICC's Women's ODI Player Rankings

The white-ball tour to Bangladesh has kickstarted with a bang for Australia Women, with the Aussies 2-0 up in the three-match ODI series. Australia Women, the reigning champions of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, were emphatic in their first two games against the home team, beating them comprehensively by 118 runs and 6 wickets in the first two ODIs, respectively. 

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As far as ODI rankings are concerned for batting, Ashleigh Gardner improved five places to 17th, while teammates Annabel Sutherland and Alana King made considerable ground too, moving up five and 19 places to sit on 38th and 58th, respectively. Sutherland and King played only a single innings, coming in the first ODI, where they were the highest run-scorers for their team to get their team to a respectable total after the team collapsed like a pack of cards in the initial phase of their innings, both of them remaining unbeaten on 58* (76) and 46* (31), respectively. Meanwhile, Gardner featured in both the matches, scoring a total of 52 runs. 

Three Australian stars shone on the ODI bowlers' list, with seasoned veteran Megan Schutt moving up the ladder to close in on English left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, with stupendously unbelievable figures reading 6-1-5-1 and 6-2-7-1 in the first two ODIs, respectively. The talented all-rounder Gardner jumped two places to fifth and left-arm orthodox Sophie Molineux re-entered the rankings by sitting at a shared 69th position, following the Victorian's 910-day absence from ODI cricket, after delivering a ridiculously supreme performance of giving away only 10 runs in as many overs, picking up three wickets and bowling a whopping five maidens and 53 dot balls in the process, in the second ODI of the series. 

A similar story ensued for the all-rounders, with Gardner ascending to second place, trailing South Africa's Marizanne Kapp, while King advanced to 11th after a strong performance with both bat and ball in the ongoing series against Bangladesh.

Third ODI between BAN-W and AUS-W to be played on March 27

The third and final ODI of the three-match ODI series between Bangladesh Women and Australia Women will be played on March 27 at the same venue as the first two ODIs, at the Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, and the Aussies would be aiming to whitewash the Bangladeshis by finishing the series on a high.

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