World Cricket News: Taylor

West Indies Women's 3-0 win over Pakistan has taken it to the top of the table alongside Australia

Taylor climbs to third in batting rankings; gains for Pakistan players despite defeat

· West Indies and Pakistan retain their pre-series team rankings

Following its 3-0 win over Pakistan in St Lucia on Saturday, the West Indies has joined world number-one Australia on the top of the ICC Women’s Championship table.

Stafanie Taylor’s side has leapfrogged South Africa and is now level with Australia on 16 points. However, both Australia and South Africa have played one less round of matches. In their fourth round matches next year, Australia will host India and South Africa will host England.

The ICC Women’s Championship is a qualifying tournament for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 and is being participated by Australia, England, India, New Zealand Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies. The top four sides from the ICC Women’s Championship will obtain automatic qualification for the event proper to be staged in England, while the bottom four sides will get a final chance of qualification through the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in 2017.

The tournament structure sees each team will play each other in one home or away series that will include three ODIs over a two and a half year period. As such, each side is guaranteed, at least, 21 ODIs over the tournament period.

Pakistan played four ODIs against the West Indies on the tour and though it won the opening match of the series, only the last three matched counted towards the ICC Women’s Championship. Nevertheless, all four matches count towards the ICC Women’s Team Rankings, which has seen no changes to their pre-series rankings except that both have gained one point each. The ICC Women’s Team Rankings will now be updated at the conclusion of the three-match T20I series, which will be played in St George’s, Grenada, from 29 October to 1 November.

Reflecting on the series victory in the aftermath of Saturday’s win, former West Indies fast bowler and women’s team coach Vasbert Drakes said: “I thought that we executed really well throughout the series and recognised the importance of trying to dominate this game, and we did that really well.

“The consistency in everyone was a highlight. Merissa Aguilleira improved tremendously batting at number-five, while Stafanie (Taylor) showed again why she’s the best player in the world. She dominated again and led from the front. Kyshona (Knight) bowled well and Shamilia (Connell) bowled really fast and consistent.

“It was a collective effort with everyone contributing as a group. Going forward we know that we still have a lot of work to do but we can look forward to the South African leg.”

The West Indies won the opening match of the ICC Women’s Championship by three wickets and then took an assailable 2-0 lead by winning the second match by 109 runs. It swept the series with a six wicket win.

The West Indies’ dominance is also reflected in the last ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings, which has seen a number of its players move in the right direction.
Taylor has claimed three places to third in the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Batters, while there were notable gains for Nain Abidi (up six places to 25th), Merissa Aguilleira (up 14 places to 28th), Asmavia Iqbal (up six places to a career-high 42nd), Britney Cooper (up 16 places to 71st) and Aliya Riaz (up 12 places to 100th).

In the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Bowlers

Stafanie Taylor continues to lead the all-rounders’ tables and holds a 65-point advantage over Australia’s Ellyse Perry.

Forthcoming matches in ICC Women’s Championship:

New Zealand v Sri Lanka
3 Nov – 1^st ODI, Bert Sutcliffe, Lincoln
5 Nov – 2^nd ODI, Bert Sutcliffe, Lincoln
7 Nov – 3^rd ODI, Bert Sutcliffe, Lincoln

Australia v India
2 Feb – 1^st ODI, Hobart
5 Feb – 2^nd ODI, Hobart
7 Feb – 3^rd ODI, Hobart

South Africa v England
7 Feb – 1^st ODI, Benoni
12 Feb – 2^nd ODI, Benoni
14 Feb – 3^rd ODI, Benoni

Points table:
, Anisa Mohammed has retained her second place behind runaway leader Jhulan Goswami of India, while 24-year-old skipper Taylor has dropped one place to fourth. There was better news for Tremayne Smartt who has vaulted four places to 14th.

ICC Women's Championship 2014 – 2016
Teams	P	W	L	Tie	N/R	Points	NRR
Australia	9	8	1	0	0	16	0.922
West Indies	12	8	4	0	0	16	0.558
South Africa	9	5	3	0	1	11	0.097
England	9	4	4	0	1	9	-0.163
Pakistan	12	4	8	0	0	8	-0.386
New Zealand	9	4	5	0	0	8	-0.509
Sri Lanka	9	2	6	0	1	5	-0.232
India	9	2	6	0	1	5	-0.286

Note – two points for a win, no point for a loss and one point for a no-result
ICC Women’s Team Rankings (after the conclusion of West Indies-Pakistan ODIs. The table will again be updated their 3-match T20I series, which ends on 1 November)

Ranking         Team              Points
1                      Australia          134
2                      England           124
3                      New Zealand 109
4                      India 105
5                      West Indies 100
6                      South Africa 92
7                      Pakistan           82
8                      Sri Lanka 74
9                      Bangladesh 57
10                    Ireland 26

(Developed by David Kendix)

ICC Women’s Player Rankings (as on 26 October after West Indies-Pakistan series):
Batting

Rank     (+/-)       Player              Team     Points      Ave         Highest Ranking
   1           ( - ) Meg Lanning        Aus         796*!    47.21 796 v Eng at Worcester 2015
   2           ( - ) Sarah Taylor        Eng         717 40.22 803 v Aus at Chelmsford 2009
   3           (+3) Stafanie Taylor    WI          702 45.62 765 v Ind at St Kitts (WP) 2012
   4           (-1) C. Edwards Eng         695 38.21 749 v NZ at Lincoln 2015
   5           (-1) Mithali Raj Ind          679 48.82 839 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004
   6           (-1) Suzie Bates NZ          674 36.54 734 v WI at Kingston 2013
   7           ( - ) H. Kaur Ind          643 35.62 678 v SA at Bangalore 2014
   8           ( - ) Ellyse Perry Aus         640! 38.86 640 v Eng at Worcester 2015
   9           (+1) Alex Blackwell     Aus         570 33.29 683 v Ind at Canberra 2008
10         (-1) Deandra Dottin WI          565 27.89 650 v NZ at Kingston 2013

Selected Others:

Rank     (+/-)         Player Team     Points      Ave        Highest Ranking
11         (+5) Javeria Khan        Pak         555        29.66     573 v SA at Sharjah 2015
13         (-1) Bismah Maroof Pak         546        25.88     551 v Ban at Karachi 2015
25         (+6) Nain Abidi             Pak         424 19.76     459 v Ire at Dublin 2012
28         (+14) M. Aguilleira WI          400        20.22     526 v SA at St Kitts (WP) 2013
32         (-4) Kycia Knight WI          390* 19.51     404 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2015
37         (-2) H. Matthews         WI          359* 29.66     380 v Pak at St Lucia 2015
42         (+6) Asmavia Iqbal Pak         326!       14.53     326 v WI at St Lucia 2015
43         (+1) Sana Mir Pak         318        16.13     326 v WI at St Lucia 2015
44         (-4) S. Campbelle WI          311        18.79     403 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
71         (+16) Britney Cooper WI          212*! 15.05     212 v Pak at St Lucia 2015
100        (+12) Aliya Riaz Pak         149*      13.16     152 v WI at St Lucia 2015

Bowling
Rank     (+/-)      Player                 Team     Points Ave       Econ           Highest Ranking
1           ( - ) Jhulan Goswami Ind          765 20.98 3.16 796 v Eng at Chennai 2007
   2=        ( - ) A. Mohammed WI          656 17.72 3.23 704 v Aus at Sydney 2014
                (+2) Katherine Brunt Eng 656 23.26 3.37 796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013
   4           (-1) Stafanie Taylor WI 647 18.62 3.09 768 v NZ at Kingston 2013
   5           ( - ) Ellyse Perry           Aus 608 24.08 4.25 698 v Ind at Mumbai 2012
   6           (+1) Shibnam Ismail SA 583* 18.40 3.45 595 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
   7           (+1) Jenny Gunn Eng 582 27.63 3.77 693 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
   8           (+1) D. van Niekerk SA 579* 16.13 3.24 583 v Ind at Bangalore 2014
   9           (+2) Erin Osborne         Aus 552 25.18 4.02 581 v Eng at Melbourne 2014
10         (-4) Sana Mir               Pak 550 25.10 3.46 610 v SA at Sharjah 2015

Selected Others:

Rank     (+/-)         Player Team      Points Ave       Econ          Highest Ranking
14         (+4)         T. Smartt WI          509* 33.40     3.68       524 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
22         ( - )          Nida Dar Pak 447* 21.90     3.52       463 v Ban at Cox's Bazar 2014
24         (-2)          Asmavia Iqbal Pak 419        31.55     4.19       458 v SA at Sharjah 2015
35         (-6)          Shakera Selman WI 373* 25.53     3.36       467 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
39         (+9)         Anam Amin Pak 347*! 10.60     2.62       347 v WI at St Lucia 2015
48         (-1)          Bismah Maroof Pak 321*      21.93     3.60       327 v WI at St Lucia 2015
49         (+9)         Hayley Matthews WI 304*! 19.87     3.83       304 v Pak at St Lucia 2015
58         (+5)         Deandra Dottin WI          245*! 30.34     4.87       245 v Pak at St Lucia 2015
73=       (+11) Sania Khan Pak 180*! 54.25     4.52       180 v WI at St Lucia 2015
                (+23)      S. Connell              WI          180*! 36.33     4.73       180 v Pak at St Lucia 2015

All-rounders

Rank    (+/-) Player                  Team Points Highest Ranking
1           ( - )          Stafanie Taylor WI          454                        560 v NZ at Kingston 2013
   2           ( - )          Ellyse Perry Aus 389!                       389 v Eng at Worcester 2015
   3           ( - )          Jhulan Goswami Ind 307!                       307 v NZ at Bangalore 2015
   4           ( - )          D. van Niekerk SA 281*/*! 281 v Pak at Sharjah 2015
   5           ( - )          Suzie Bates NZ 255!                       255 v Ind at Bangalore 2015

Source: ICC

Ali and Rashid take five wickets between them as Australia slumps to 93-run defeat

James Taylor scored his maiden One-Day International century before Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid helped England register a 93-run win over Australia at Old Trafford on Tuesday (September 8) to keep the host in the hunt in the five-match series.

Australia could manage just 207 all out in reply to England’s 300 for 8.

Mooen Ali, the offspinner, and Adil Rashid, the legspinner, shared five wickets between them, with Ali's 3 for 32 in his full 10 overs the allrounder's best ODI figures as together, they took a combined 5 for 73 in 20 overs.

In its chase, Australia made a cautious start with Aaron Finch, brought into the side after David Warner was ruled out with a fractured thumb, and Joe Burns adding 33 for the first wicket in six overs. Burns struggled for 18 balls to get going before being dismissed by Steven Finn.

Steve Smith walked in at No. 3 and showed glimpses of brilliance in his short knock of 25 but his promising innings was cut short by a stunning effort from Finn, who held a one-handed catch at short midwicket off Rashid. Finch carried on to scored 53 to lead Australia’s charge.

Rashid, gaining sharp turn, then dismissed Finch when he holed out to long-on. His exit was the start of a collapse that saw three wickets lost for 35 runs to leave Australia struggling at 141 for 5.

Glenn Maxwell, after reverse-hitting Ali for two fours in as many balls, tried to make it three in a row only to be caught off a top edge by Jonathan Bairstow, the wicketkeeper.

George Bailey (25) obligingly drove an Ali full toss straight to Ben Stokes at midwicket. Jason Roy then held a remarkable catch, running round from long-on, after Ashton Agar launched Liam Plunkett high into the deep.

Roy lost the ball in the floodlights and, arching backwards, dropped a one-handed chance only to grab the ball at the second attempt before hitting the turf. Finn ended the match emphatically by bowling Matthew Wade (42).

Earlier, Taylor's century set the platform for another 300 plus score in the series after Eoin Morgan won the toss. Taylor, brought back for this series with Ashes-winner Joe Root rested, was out for 101.

Taylor’s first fifty included just one four and he managed just five in total but, significantly, he got England to a score their bowlers could defend.

Taylor and Morgan (62) added 119 for the third wicket but the partnership would have been curtailed had not Wade missed a stumping off Agar when Morgan was on 15.

Roy (63) gave the England innings a solid start and scored his second half-century of the series but fell trying to chip Agar over short cover. The opener was caught by Maxwell on the second attempt.

Taylor went to his hundred in nervous fashion when his drive off Pat Cummins hit non-striker Chris Woakes's bat and rebounded into the stumps. He sprinted down the pitch and dived for a definitive scrambled single.

The fourth match of the series will be played at Headingley on Friday.

Source: ICC