Beth Mooney emerges as the new T20I No.1 Batter, Smriti Mandhana jumps to 3rd

Batters’s Rankings

Beth Mooney’s 36-ball 34 and 43-ball 61 in the two completed T20Is against India in Carrara last week have throttled her to the top of the women’s T20I batters’ rankings, taking her past Shafali Verma, who had a poor run, scoring total 22 runs in three innings. Australia won the series 2-0, after the first game was cancelled due to rain, to win the multi-format series 11 points to five.

Mooney, in the team as a replacement for Rachael Haynes – who had to withdraw because of an injury – scored the most runs in the series and climbed to the top, while Smriti Mandhana, who aggregated 70 runs for the series, went past Meg Lanning, who also had a lean run of scores, to No. 3.

Bowlers’ Rankings

Mooney’s teammate Sophie Molineux also made significant gains in the latest rankings update, breaking into the top 10 for bowlers after climbing 12 spots to No.9. Molineux took three wickets in the series at an economy of 5.60 that helped restrict India to below-par scores in the last two games.

India’s Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who winded up as the leading wicket-taker of the series with five wickets in two innings, rose to No. 12.

All-Rounders’ Rankings

Ashleigh Gardner made her way into the top 10 to occupy the 10th spot in the all-rounders’ rankings, thanks to her superb display with the ball that saw her finish the series as Australia’s leading wicket-taker. Georgia Wareham, who finished with three wickets and 23 runs in the three games, jumped 14 spots to a career-best No. 48.

There was a lot of shuffling of rankings in the ODI list after the recently-concluded series between Zimbabwe and Ireland. Playing their first ODI series since achieving official status in April earlier this year, several Zimbabwe players made their presence felt in the rankings for the very first time.

Josephine Nkomo made the biggest gains across tables after scoring 164 runs and picking up four wickets in the series against Ireland – she debuted at No. 98 for batters, No. 58 for bowlers and No. 57 for allrounders.

Meanwhile, in the recently concluded Ireland vs Zimbabwe 4th ODI, Ireland won the match by 85 runs. Amy Hunter, a 16-year-old, who struck her maiden century,was declared the Player of the Match.