England and New Zealand top contenders for Women’s World T20 title

As the business end of the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 India 2016  approaches, the tournament has thrown up a few surprises, and the biggest one being Australia is no longer the clear favourite to win its fourth straight title.

New Zealand and England have announced themselves as strong contenders as both the sides enter the semi-finals unbeaten after winning all their four league matches.

This change in the equation is evident in the ICC Women’s Team Rankings with Australia (128 points) holding on to top spot, but finding its lead cut to just four points as England (124 points) plays catch up. New Zealand has gained two points (116 points) and is now just 12 points behind Australia and eight behind England.

A disappointing outing for host India (107 points) with just one win in the league matches, this means it has dropped four points and now leads the West Indies (102 points) by just five. The fact that the Caribbean side has qualified for the semi-finals means it has a chance of moving further up the ladder.

There is no such opportunity for South Africa (93 points), which managed just one win but is lucky to retain its sixth position. It is followed by Pakistan (seventh), Sri Lanka (eighth), Bangladesh (ninth) and Ireland (10th).

Meg Lanning’s Southern Stars felt the might of New Zealand’s spin as the White Ferns handed the three-time champion its only defeat in the tournament. Australia now faces England’s challenge for a spot in the final.

Stafanie Taylor’s West Indies has been in three out of four semi-finals since the women’s tournament began in 2009, and will enter the semi-final against New Zealand with three wins out of four league games.

Similar to the men’s side, New Zealand’s women’s side has also shown excellent form and consistency, and the two-time finalists will be hoping to finally add the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 trophy to their cabinet.

New Zealand and England players have been rewarded for their impressive forms with rises in the ICC Women’s T20I player Rankings.

Amongst the batters, Lanning has held on to top spot, but her English and New Zealand counterparts have risen a spot each to close the gap on her. Suzie Bates (second) and Charlotte Edwards (third) have led by example, scoring the most runs in the tournament so far with 171 each.

New Zealand’s Rachel Priest (24th), the seventh highest run-scorer in the tournament to date with 102 runs, along with team-mates Amy Satterthwaite (27th) and Sara McGlashan (28th) have been were rewarded for their efforts with a six place, one place and three place rise respectively.

England’s Natalie Sciver has jumped 12 places and is now 25^th, while Danielle Wyatt has earned two spots and is now in 46thposition.

Australia players have made their mark in the rankings with Alex Blackwell rising a place to 13th and Jess Jonassen moving up four places to 36th.

Stafanie Taylor has returned to the top five in fourth position (up by two places), while her team-mate Deandra Dottin has gained one spot and is now in sixth position.

Amongst the bowlers, Anya Shrubsole of England has retained her number-one position, but closing in on her is New Zealand’s Morna Nielson who is just 20 points behind.

Pakistan’s slow-left arm bowler Anam Amin has vaulted 21 places to fourth after taking seven wickets while Leigh Kasperek of New Zealand has rocketed 27 places to eighth as she leads the most successful bowlers’ list with nine wickets.

Other big movers in the bowlers’ chart are New Zealand’s Erin Bermingham (22nd), India’s Poonam Yadav (10th) and Anuja Patil (27th), South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp (32nd) and West Indies’ Dottin (42nd). .

Dottin has moved up five places to fifth in all-rounders’ rankings as well. Australia’s Ellyse Perry is holding on to the top spot, with South Africa’s Dane van Niekerk maintaining her second position. Taylor (third), Sophie Devine (seventh) and Jess Jonassen (10th) have each earned a one spot rise up in the top-10.

The stage is set for two enthralling semi-finals and one thing is for certain – the tide is changing in women’s cricket, and there will be no one-sided affairs. Watch out for equal contests between four exciting teams.

While the team rankings will be updated after each match, the player rankings will not be updated until after the final of the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016.

ICC Women’s Rankings (as on 29 March, after group stage matches in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 India 2016)

 

Rank   Team              Points

1.      Australia           128

2.      England            124

3.      New Zealand    116

4.      India                 107

5.      West Indies      102

6.      South Africa       93

7.      Pakistan              81

8.      Sri Lanka           71

9.      Bangladesh         45

10.  Ireland                 29

(Developed by David Kendix)

 

ICC T20I Women’s Player Rankings (as on 29 March, after group stage matches in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 India 2016)

Batting (top 10)

 

Rank     (+/-)       Player               Team        Pts         Avge      S/Rate    HS Rating

1           ( – )          Meg Lanning        Aus         666          31.23    118         717 v WI at Melbourne 2014

2           (+1)         Suzie Bates           NZ          664          27.46    107         666 v Ire at Chandigarh 2016

3           (+1)         C Edwards            Eng         655          33.00    107         812 v Pak at Taunton 2009

4           (+2)         Stafanie Taylor    WI          639          36.00    104         770 v NZ at St Lucia 2010

5           (-3)          Sarah Taylor        Eng         636          30.34    110         721 v Aus at Chelmsford 2013

6           (+1)         Deandra Dottin    WI          609          24.85    125         649 v Eng at Bridgetown 2013

7           (-2)          Mithali Raj           Ind          607          34.60    100         761 v WI at Ahmedabad 2011

8           ( – )          Bismah Maroof   Pak         567          27.86    84           579 v Ban at Karachi 2015

9           (+2)         D van Niekerk      SA           541          26.67    87           543 v Ire at Chennai 2016

10         ( – )          Sophie Devine      NZ          539          24.67    114         560 v SL at Christchurch 2015

 

Selected rankings (top 50)

 

Rank     (+/-)       Player               Team        Pts         Avge   S/Rate    HS Rating

11         (+1)         H Kaur                   Ind          529        22.04     93           594 v Aus at Visakhapatnam 2012

12         (-3)          M du Preez            SA           527        22.00     94           552 v Eng at Johannesburg 2016

13         (+1)         Alex Blackwell     Aus         512        21.15     94           566 v Eng at Canberra 2011

17         (+4)         C Jayangani         SL           499!       18.00     91           499 v SA at Bangalore 2016

21         (+2)         Salma Khatun      Ban        471*      18.50     89           476 v Eng at Bangalore 2016

23         (+1)         Trisha Chetty       SA           455         18.05     90           522 v SL at Potchefstroom 2013

24         (+6)         Rachel Priest         NZ          453!       17.65     109         453 v SA at Bangalore 2016

25         (+12)      Natalie Sciver       Eng         447*!    18.73     96           447 v Pak at Chennai 2016

27         (+1)         A Satterthwaite    NZ          437         19.14     88           507 v WI at Bridgetown 2013

28         (+3)         Sara McGlashan  NZ          411         17.87     99           631 v Aus at Invercargill 2011

29         (+6)         Dilani Surangika  SL           410         20.51     83           419 v Aus at Delhi 2016

30         (-1)          Marizanne Kapp SA           409         17.28     93           437 v Ind at Bangalore 2014

36         (+4)         Jess Jonassen        Aus         391*!    17.95     92           391 v Ire at Delhi 2016

37         (-5)          Javeria Khan        Pak         382         17.90     82           493 v Aus at Sylhet 2014

38         (+1)         Eshani Kaushalya               SL           380         14.58     107         392 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015

46=       (+2)         Danielle Wyatt     Eng         300         12.02     104         355 v WI at Bridgetown 2013

(+15)      V Krishnamurthy Ind          300*!    16.09     104         300 v WI at Mohali 2016

50         (+5)         Kim Garth             Ire           288*!    19.50     66           288 v Aus at Delhi 2016

 

Bowlers (top 10)

 

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

1            ( – )          Anya Shrubsole   Eng         679        12.39     5.42       680 v WI at Dharamsala 2016

2           (+2)         Morna Nielsen      NZ          659!       18.30     4.85       659 v SA at Bangalore 2016

3           ( – )          Ellyse Perry           Aus         615        19.44     5.73       686 v NZ at Nelson 2010

4           (+21)      Anam Amin          Pak         614        17.85     4.89       645 v Ban at Delhi 2016

5           (-3)          Danielle Hazell     Eng         604        19.23     5.21       685 v NZ at Chelmsford 2011

6           (-1)          A Mohammed     WI          594          15.19    5.28       673 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2011

7           (-1)          Shabnim Ismail   SA           590          19.65    5.70       618 v Aus at Nagpur 2016

8           (+27)      Leigh Kasperek    NZ          578*!       6.96     4.09       578 v SA at Bangalore 2016

9           ( – )          Jess Jonassen        Aus         572           20.66   5.23       598 v Ire at Dublin 2015

10         (+6)         Poonam Yadav   Ind          562*        12.39   5.33       571 v Pak at Delhi 2016

 

Selected rankings (top 50)

 

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

11         (+1)         Jhulan Goswami  Ind          551          20.17    5.25       671 v Aus at Visakhapatnam 2012

20        (+8)         Ekta Bisht             Ind          520        16.26     5.48       524 v SL at Visakhapatnam 2014

22         (+12)      Erin Bermingham                NZ          516        15.62     5.20       516 v SA at Bangalore 2016

24         (+5)         Sune Luus             SA           495        17.44     5.45       499 v Ire at Chennai 2016

25         (+6)         S Quintyne            WI          489        18.70     5.69       625 v NZ at Invercargill 2014

27         (+20)      Anuja Patil            Ind          485*!    19.93     5.20       485 v WI at Mohali 2016

28         (+8)         Asmavia Iqbal     Pak         481        22.02     5.85       501 v Aus at Gold Coast 2014

34         (+10)      Marizanne Kapp SA           464        16.15     4.95       645 v Ire at Doha 2014

42         (+18)      Deandra Dottin    WI          413!       18.25     5.89       413 v Ind at Mohali 2016

43         (+9)         Hayley Matthews                WI          411*      14.56     5.19       437 v Ban at Chennai 2016

44         (+11)      R Gayakwad        Ind          410*      19.53     6.25       418 v Eng at Dharamsala 2016

47        (+17)      Heather Knight    Eng         399*      21.40     5.03       407 v WI at Dharamsala 2016

50        (+20)      Shamilia Connell WI          393*!    34.66     5.33       393 v Ind at Mohali 2016

 

All-rounders (top 10)

 

Rank      (+/-)        Player               Team     Pts          Highest Ranking

 

1           ( – )          E Perry                Aus            309        319 v NZ at New Plymouth 2016

2           ( – )          D van Niekerk      SA           298        304 v Ire at Chennai 2016

3           (+1)         Stafanie Taylor    WI          282        422 v SL at Bridgetown 2012

4           (-1)          Salma Khatun      Ban        260*       292 v Ire at Sylhet 2014

5           (+5)         Deandra Dottin    WI          252!       252 v Ind at Mohali 2016

6           ( – )          Suzie Bates           NZ          239        274 v Aus at Taunton 2011

7           (+1)         Sophie Devine      NZ          236        304 v Eng at Hove 2010

8           (-3)          Isobel Joyce          Ire           235        291 v Aus at Sylhet 2014

9           (-2)          Bismah Maroof   Pak         229        248 v Ire at Doha 2014

10         (+1)         Jess Jonassen        Aus         224*!    224 v Ire at Delhi 2016