Australia opener Beth Mooney has grabbed the top spot for batters in the latest ICC Women’sT20I Player Rankings after helping her team win the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup for the fifth time.
Mooney scored 259 runs at an average of 64 in six innings, the highest aggregate by anyone at a single edition of the competition and was named Player of the Tournament. Mooney has topped the rankings for the first time, having reached number two in March 2018.
She took over from India opener Shafali Verma, who slipped to third position after grabbing the top spot at the end of the league of the tournament while New Zealand’s Suzie Bates remains in second position in the latest update carried out after the knockout stage. The 16-year-old managed a score of only two runs in the final.
Mooney’s opening partner Alyssa Healy has risen two slots to fifth position after a blistering 39-ball 75 in the final against India while South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt has advanced 13 slots to reach a career-best 31st place after a valiant 27-ball 41 in their semi-final against Australia.
The list that also features the Indian duo of Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues in the top ten. While the India vice-captain Mandhana, who had a forgetful tournament, moved down a spot to be ranked seventh, Rodrigues remained static on ninth.
India’s Deepti Sharma has advanced 10 slots to reach 43rd position among batters and is among the top five all-rounders for the first time.
Sharma, Radha Yadav and Poonam Yadav also occupy the sixth, seventh and eighth sports respectively in the bowlers ranking led by England’s Sophie Ecclestone followed by Australia’s Megan Schutt, the tournament’s highest wicket-taker.
Australia left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen is at a career-best 728 points and fifth place, her best position since a career-best fourth ranking in November 2017. Her team-mates Sophie Molineux and Delissa Kimmince have advanced 10 places each to reach joint-16th and 31st places, respectively.
With PTI Inputs