Sydney, 6 March 2009
Taylor and Guha to wear golden armbands to signify their number-one rankings
When the ICC Women’s World Cup gets underway on Saturday there will be more than just team glory to play for as there will also be the battle for the coveted top spots in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Women’s Player Rankings.
England team-mates Claire Taylor and Isa Guha start the tournament in the lead positions in the batting and bowling lists respectively and to signify their status both will wear the golden armbands awarded to the leading players in each category. The two will wear them until there is a change in the leadership.
The 33-year-old Taylor spearheads a strong field of six England batters in the top 20 and is the only player currently with more than 800 rating points. In women’s ranking terms, 800 points marks out a player as truly outstanding.
Other England batters in the top 20 and eying upward movements are Sarah Taylor (fourth), captain Charlotte Edwards, the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year (sixth), Lydia Greenway (15th), Caroline Atkins (17th) and Jenny Gunn (18th).
Guha, 23, leads the field of four English bowlers – Holly Colvin (sixth), Gunn (seventh) and Katherine Brunt (10th) – in the top 10 while Nicky Shaw is in 12th spot. Guha is the only bowler in the list above the 700-point mark.
However, Taylor and Guha will face stiff challenges for those top slots from not only their own team-mates but also from the Australia and New Zealand players who will be aiming to head the lists by the time the rankings are next updated at the end of the first round action on Wednesday 13 March.
Defending champion Australia, has four players in the batting top ten, led by second-placed Lisa Sthalekar and also including Alex Blackwell (fifth), captain Karen Rolton (seventh) and Shelley Nitschke (eighth). In the bowling list the host team has five players in the top 20 – Nitschke (second), Sthalekar (fourth), Emma Sampson (fifth), Kirsten Pike (11th) and Ellyse Perry (16th).
New Zealand players also figure prominently in the top 20 batting and bowling tables.
Ninth-placed Nicola Browne leads a trail of four batters also including captain Haidee Tiffen (10th), vice-captain Aimee Mason (11th) and Sara McGlashen (12th) while Sarah Tsukigawa is in 19th position and Amy Satterthwaite lies in 20th spot.
Browne is also the highest-ranked New Zealand bowler in eighth position, followed by Mason in 13th spot.
India has two batters in the top 20, former captain Mithali Raj in third position and Jaya Sharma, who shares 20th place with Satterthwaite. In the bowling table, the losing finalist from 2005 has four bowlers in the top 20 – captain Jhulan Goswami (third), Rumeli Dhar (ninth), Amita Sharma (19th) and Neetu David (20th).
Besides the top four teams, Sri Lanka is represented in the top 20 batters’ list by Dedunu Silva (13th) and captain Shashikala Siriwardena (14th) who also figures in the bowling table in 18th position. Sajida Shah is Pakistan’s highest-ranked bowler in 17th position while South Africa’s Cri-Zelda Brits is in 16th place and fast bowlers Alicia Smith and Ashlyn Kilowan are in 14th and 15th positions respectively.
The highest-ranked West Indies batter is Stefanie Taylor in 33rd position while the Caribbean side has fast bowler Debbie-Ann Lewis in 35th place in the bowling list.
The Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Women’s Player Rankings for all-rounders is headed by Sthalekar who holds a narrow lead over team-mate Nitschke. The New Zealand duo of Browne and Mason are third and fourth respectively while England’s Gunn is in fifth place.
Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Women’s Player Rankings (as of 6 March)
Batters
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Ranking
1 Claire Taylor Eng 804 39.13 820 v NZ at Blackpool 2007
2 Lisa Sthalekar Aus 759 37.36 804 v Ind at Sydney 2008
3 Mithali Raj Ind 722 46.50 841 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004
4 Sarah Taylor Eng 698* 40.11 705 v Ind at Taunton 2008
5 Alex Blackwell Aus 661 34.70 692 v Ind at Canberra 2008
6 Charlotte Edwards Eng 654 37.05 691 v SA at Pretoria 2005
7 Karen Rolton Aus 651 48.85 873 v Ind at Vapi 2004
8 Shelley Nitschke Aus 636 ! 29.15 636 v NZ at Hamilton 2009
9 Nicola Browne NZ 626 29.86 653 v Aus at Lincoln 2008
10 Haidee Tiffen NZ 563 29.66 750 v Ind at Lincoln 2006
11 Aimee Mason NZ 552 22.31 624 v Eng at Blackpool 2007
12 Sara McGlashen NZ 524 22.47 581 v Eng at Derby 2007
13 Dedunu Silva SL 521* 21.58 524 v Pak at Bogra 2009
14 S.Siriwardena SL 488* 21.00 500 v Pak at Khulna 2009
15 Lydia Greenway Eng 483 22.55 503 v Aus at Sydney 2008
16 Cri-Zelda Brits SA 465* 29.24 530 v NET at Stellenbosch 2008
17 Caroline Atkins Eng 463* 28.46 471 v Ind at Taunton 2008
18 Jenny Gunn Eng 456 22.37 527 v Aus at Melbourne 2008
19 Sarah Tsukigawa NZ 453* 22.00 456 v Aus at Lincoln 2008
20= Amy Satterthwaite NZ 443*! 24.20 443 v Aus at Hamilton 2009
Jaya Sharma Ind 443 30.75 665 v Aus at Vapi 2004
Bowlers
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Ranking
1 Isa Guha Eng 719 18.43 740 v Ind at Taunton 2008
2 Shelley Nitschke Aus 677* 22.30 681 v NZ at Hamilton 2009
3 Jhulan Goswami Ind 667 22.23 797 v Eng at Chennai 2007
4 Lisa Sthalekar Aus 663 27.31 674 v NZ at Hamilton 2009
5 Emma Sampson Aus 651* 21.94 666 v NZ at Whangarei 2009
6 Holly Colvin Eng 619* 19.90 632 v Ind at Arundel 2008
7 Jenny Gunn Eng 592 31.22 672 v Aus at Melbourne 2008
8 Nicola Browne NZ 567 33.48 648 v Eng at Shenley 2007
9 Rumeli Dhar Ind 565* 33.52 609 v SL at Dambulla 2008
10 Katherine Brunt Eng 545* 26.33 560 v Ind at Taunton 2008
11 Kirsten Pike Aus 503* 23.97 567 v NZ at Lincoln 2008
12 Nicky Shaw Eng 502* 32.93 517 v Ind at Taunton 2008
13 Aimee Mason NZ 498 33.78 586 v Aus at Darwin 2007
14 Alicia Smith SA 493* 22.10 536 v Ire at Crowthorne 2008
15 Ashlyn Kilowan SA 483*! 20.16 483 v Eng at Shenley 2008
16 Ellyse Perry Aus 475* 25.33 491 v Ind at Canberra 2008
17 Sajida Shah Pak 472* 27.17 499 v NET at Stellenbosch 2008
18 H.A.S.D.Siriwardena SL 471*! 22.43 471 v Pak at Dhaka 2009
19 Amita Sharma Ind 470 31.18 650 v Pak at Karachi 2005
20 Neetu David Ind 456 16.34 794 v NZ at Pretoria 2005
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points Highest Ranking
1 Lisa Sthalekar Aus 503 514 v Ind at Canberra 2008
2 Shelley Nitschke Aus 431/*! 431 v NZ at Hamilton 2009
3 Nicola Browne NZ 355 383 v Eng at Lincoln 2008
4 Aimee Mason NZ 275 342 v Eng at Blackpool 2007
5 Jenny Gunn Eng 270 353 v Aus at Melbourne 2008
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