West Indies Women's Joins Australia On Top Of The ICC Women’s Championship Table

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

West Indies And Pakistan Looking High Position Ahead Of ICC Women's Championship

In all, the sides will play four ODI’s in St. Lucia, with the opening game on Friday the only clash that will not count towards the ICC Women’s Championship

“I know this series will be competitive”, says West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor
 
West Indies has a chance to join Australia at the top of the ICC Women’s Championship table if it can blank Pakistan when they go head to head in round four of the ICC Women’s Championship, which starts in St. Lucia on Friday.

A 3-0 series victory would elevate Stafanie Taylor’s side, which currently lies a point clear of England in third position, to the top of the table. A 2-1 win for the hosts would also see it progress and leapfrog second-placed South Africa, and in that scenario Sana Mir’s team would also move up to fourth place. In the event of a 3-0 away victory for Pakistan, it would move into second place on 14 points.

In all, the sides will play four ODI’s in St. Lucia, with the opening game on Friday the only clash that will not count towards the ICC Women’s Championship, which is a qualifying tournament for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, which is being participated in 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 gain automatic qualification for the event proper which is 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.

In welcoming Pakistan to the Caribbean ahead of the start of the series, West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor also outlined her side’s ambitions to progress up the rankings. “I would like to welcome Pakistan to the West Indies and we are extremely excited as we look forward with anticipation to this upcoming series”, she said. 

“The ICC Women’s Championship has been an excellent initiative and it has given the top eight countries an opportunity to participate against each other. I know this series will be competitive; ultimately our aim is to move up the rankings and as such we plan to dominate at home, thereby achieving a clean sweep.”

Pakistan captain Sana Mir added: “We know that the West Indies will be difficult opponents, but we travel with confidence and we’re keen to get some points to enable us to move up the ICC Women’s Championship table. We have a good blend of youth and experience and it will be a superb challenge for our younger players, especially in conditions which are a whole lot different than what we are used to.

“The West Indies are a strong side with some outstanding individuals right across their team. You only need to look at their standing in the rankings to see that. So it will be a good test and one we’re indeed excited about it.”

In the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Bowlers, the top 10 features three West Indies players with second-placed Anisa Mohammed holding a 13-point lead over off-spinner Taylor. Shanel Daley lies in 11th position and will be aiming to reduce Dane van Niekerk’s 11-point advantage, while Tremayne Smartt (18th) is three appearances short of the 50-cap mark and the only other player inside the top 20. Pakistan duo Asmavia Iqbal and Nida Dar are tied for 22nd place, while the other bowlers set to feature in the series are Shakera Selman (22nd), Bismah Maroof (47th) and Anam Amin (48th), who trails Maroof by six points.

West Indies head into the series with the highest ranked batters in the latest ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Batters on either side in sixth-placed Taylor and Deandra Dottin (ninth). The highest ranked Pakistan batter is Bismah Maroof (12th) whose next ODI will be her 75thappearance for her country. Other batters who are likely to feature in the series are Kycia Knight (28th), Nain Abidi (31st) and Hayley Matthews (35th). In total, 28 points and six places separate Merissa Aguilleira (42nd), Sana Mir (44th) and Asmavia Iqbal (48th) who will all be eyeing an improvement in their rankings.

Taylor continues to lead the all-rounders’ ranking and holds a strong advantage over Australia’s Ellyse Perry.

Match Officials: Gregory Brathwaite, Jacqueline Williams, Joel Wilson
Squads
West Indies (from): Stafanie Taylor (captain), Merissa Aguilleira, Shamilia Connell, Britney Cooper, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Stacy-Ann King, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Shakera Selman, Tremayne Smartt

Pakistan (from): Sana Mir (captain), Nain Abidi, Anam Amin, Sidra Amin, Diana Baig, Nida Dar, Asmavia Iqbal, Marina Iqbal, Sania Iqbal, Iram Javed, Bismah Maroof, Aliya Riaz, Rabiya Shah, Sumaiya Siddiqui, Javeria Wadood, Ayesha Zafar
Forthcoming fixtures

West Indies v Pakistan
16 October – First ODI, St. Lucia
18 October – Second ODI, St. Lucia*
21 October – Third ODI, St. Lucia*
24 October – Fourth ODI, St. Lucia*
*Denotes ICC Women’s Championship fixture
 
Points table:

ICC Women's Championship 2014 - 2016
Teams	P	W	L	Tie	N/R	Points	NRR
Australia	9	8	1	0	0	16	0.922
South Africa	9	5	3	0	1	11	0.097
West Indies	9	5	4	0	0	10	0.382
England	9	4	4	0	1	9	-0.163
Pakistan	9	4	5	0	0	8	-0.145
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 ODI Team Rankings:
 
The ICC Women's Championship is being contested by the following eight teams who have been seeded according to their rankings following the ICC Women’s World Cup India 2013:
1.     Australia
2.     West Indies
3.     England
4.     New Zealand
5.     Sri Lanka
6.     South Africa
7.     India
8.     Pakistan
 
Following the completion of the round-robin matches, the final standings of the points table will represent each team’s final event ranking, and the top four teams will automatically qualify for the ICC WWC 2017.

ICC Women’s Player Rankings (as on 14 October, ahead of 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          C. Edwards          Eng        695       38.21    749 v NZ at Lincoln 2015
   4          Mithali Raj          Ind         679       48.82    839 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004
   5          Suzie Bates          NZ          674       36.54    734 v WI at Kingston 2013
   6          Stafanie Taylor   WI          657       43.26    765 v Ind at St Kitts (WP) 2012
   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          Deandra Dottin   WI          620       28.73    650 v NZ at Kingston 2013
  10         Alex Blackwell   Aus        570       33.29    683 v Ind at Canberra 2008

Selected Others:
 
Rank    Player                  Team     Points      Ave        Highest Ranking
  12         Bismah Maroof   Pak         551!      25.29    551 v Ban at Karachi 2015
  28         Kycia Knight       WI          398*     20.16    404 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2015
  31         Nain Abidi           Pak         386       19.22    459 v Ire at Dublin 2012
  35         H. Matthews        WI          366*!    37.25    366 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2015
  42         M. Aguilleira       WI          323       18.40    526 v SA at St Kitts (WP) 2013
  44         Sana Mir              Pak         319       15.77    326 v SA at Sharjah 2015
  48         Asmavia Iqbal     Pak         295       13.72    309 v SA at Sharjah 2015

Bowling
Rank     Player                 Team     Points      Ave    Econ         Highest Ranking
   1          J. Goswami          Ind         765       20.98    3.16      796 v Eng at Chennai 2007
   2          A. Mohammed    WI          672       17.38    3.22      704 v Aus at Sydney 2014
   3          Stafanie Taylor   WI          659       18.14    3.08      768 v NZ at Kingston 2013
   4          Katherine Brunt  Eng        656       23.26    3.37      796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013
   5          Ellyse Perry         Aus        608       24.08    4.25      698 v Ind at Mumbai 2012
   6          Sana Mir              Pak         588       23.80    3.41      610 v SA at Sharjah 2015
   7          Shibnam Ismail   SA          583*     18.40    3.45      595 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
   8          Jenny Gunn         Eng        582       27.63    3.77      693 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
   9          D. van Niekerk   SA          579*     16.13    3.24      583 v Ind at Bangalore 2014
  10         Shanel Daley       WI          568       22.09    3.33      664 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014

Selected Others:
 
Rank     Player                  Team      Points      Ave    Econ         Highest Ranking
  18         T.Smartt                              WI          497*     31.00    3.70      524 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
  22=      Asmavia Iqbal     Pak         442       31.74    4.10      458 v SA at Sharjah 2015
               Nida Dar              Pak         442*     21.09    3.51      463 v Ban at Cox's Bazar 2014
  29         Shakera Selman  WI          405*     25.53    3.36      467 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
  47         Bismah Maroof   Pak         306*!    21.83    3.58      306 v Ban at Karachi 2015
  48         Anam Amin         Pak         300*!    8.06      2.01      300 v Ban at Karachi 2015

All-rounders
 
Rank     Player                 Team    Points                     Highest Ranking
   1          Stafanie Taylor   WI          433                       560 v NZ at Kingston 2013
   2          Ellyse Perry        Aus        389!                     389 v Eng at Worcester 2015
   3          J. 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