ICC Women's Rankings: Beth Mooney regains top spot, Nat Sciver tops all rounders list

The MRF Tyres ICC Women’s Rankings for ODIs and T20Is has seen major movement in the weekly update. Chamari Athapaththu’s reign at the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s ODI Batters Rankings lasted just two weeks as Australia’s Beth Mooney has now regained the top spot in the latest update.

Beth Mooney was among the runs in the first two ODIs against England with scores of 81* and 33 as Australia regained the Ashes with a win in the second match of the series. Following her closely is England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt, who almost stole victory from the hands of Australia in the second ODI with a stunning 111* off 99 balls. Despite her knock going in vain, Nat Sciver-Brunt moves up two spots to No.2 and a career-best rating of 763.

Also Read: Cricket world unites in celebration as Smriti Mandhana turns 27

The star all-rounder has also been handy with the ball, picking up two wickets in England’s win in the first ODI in Bristol. Her all-round performances help her climb to the top of the all-rounders’ rankings in ODIs, once again attaining a career-best rating of 402.

Sciver-Brunt’s teammate Heather Knight played the finisher’s role to perfection in the first ODI, taking her team home with an unbeaten 75 while batting with the lower order. The England captain has been rewarded with a four-place jump to No.14 in the batters’ rankings, where she sits equal with New Zealand’s Sophie Devine.

Australia ace all-rounder and ICC Women’s Player of the Month for June 2023 Ash Gardner continued to shine with brilliant outings with bat and ball. With a combined 54 runs and three wickets in each of the first two ODIs, Gardner has surged to career-best ratings in the list for bowlers’ (up four places to No.8 with 631 rating points) and all-rounders (up two places to No.5 with 330 rating points).

Bangladesh players too have been rewarded after their memorable win over India in the first ODI. Most notably, skipper Nigar Sultana climbed four spots to No.31 in the ODI batters’ rankings after top-scoring with 39 in the match.

Sultana Khatun, who finished with figures of 1/20, made a massive jump of 25 places to No.78 in the rankings for bowlers while youngster Marufa Akter’s 4/29 sees her jump into the top 100.

In the T20I rankings update, Sri Lankan stars made considerable gains with victory in the third and final T20I against New Zealand. Though their 10-run win made no difference to the result of the series – New Zealand had taken an unassailable 2-0 lead heading into the final match – some of Sri Lanka’s stars enjoyed rankings jump.

Athapaththu smashed a fiery 47-ball 80* while chasing 143 and climbs to the ninth spot in the batters’ rankings. Her batting partner Harshitha Madavi, with whom she shared a record-breaking unbeaten 143-run stand, rises five spots to No.22.

Inoka Ranaweera bowled beautifully and finished with figures of 3/20. Her efforts in restricting New Zealand to just 140/9 have reaped benefits as the left-arm veteran spinner climbed six spots to share a joint seventh spot with Lea Tahuhu.

Follow InsideSport on GOOGLE NEWS / Follow ICC Rankings 2023 Updates with InsideSport.IN.

Cricket