India and South Africa to do battle in ICC Women's Championship series

Host India, currently sitting sixth in the table after losing its first round clash to Australia 2-1, is likely to call upon its influential captain Mithali Raj, who is ranked number one in the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Batters. Also expected to be seen in action is seventh-placed Harmanpreet Kaur. South Africa, meanwhile, can call upon three batters in the top 20 – Marizanne Kapp (16th), Trisha Chetty (19th) and Mignon du Preez (20th).

In the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Bowlers, India’s medium pace bowler Jhulan Goswami (3rd) will be aiming to reduce the 22-point deficit with second-placed Jenny Gunn of England. In the absence of its highest-ranked bowler Shibnam Ismail, South Africa, which is fourth on the table after its first round series against Sri Lanka ended in a 1-1 tie, will look to Sunette Loubser (13th) and Dane van Niekerk (15th), who both have India’s 12th placed Gouher Sultana in their sights. Sultana’s rankings lead over Loubser is just three points.

The consistent Marizanne Kapp is ranked a career-high third position in the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for All-rounders following her exploits in the recent series victory over Sri Lanka, 42 points adrift of Australia’s Ellyse Perry. Kapp’s South Africa team-mate Dane van Niekerk is tied for fifth place with India’s Goswami on 219 points heading into the three-match series.

The three ODI matches will take place in Bangalore on 24, 26 and 28 November as part of the seven-round ICC Women’s Championship, which is a qualifying tournament for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.

Australia-West Indies

Meanwhile, Australia has moved six points clear at the top of the ICC Women’s Championship table on 12 points after clinching a 3-0 series victory over West Indies in Bowral on Sunday. Skipper Meg Lanning has vaulted to a career-high second place in the batter rankings after compiling 336 runs in the series, including 135 not out in the third ODI. Sydney-born all-rounder Ellyse Perry rose nine places to 12th after three half centuries in the three ODIs that count towards the ICC Women’s Championship (53, 72 and 64 not out) as well as chipping in with four valuable wickets.

West Indies is now in second place on the table, with off-spinner Stafanie Taylor retaining the number one position in the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Bowlers, 18 points clear of England’s Gunn. Perry has broken into the top 10 in 10th spot (up by one) and is 17 points adrift of her team-mate Erin Osborne, who occupies ninth position. Australia’s 30-year-old leg-break bowler Kristen Beams has vaulted 35 places to a career-high 65th place after taking five wickets in the series.

The top four sides from the ICC Women’s Championship will progress to the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, 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.

Squads

India (from): (To be announced in due course)

South Africa (from): Mignon Du Preez (captain), Savanna Cordes, Trisha Chetty (wkt), Yolani Fourie, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Lizelle Lee, Marcia Letsoalo, Sunette Loubser, Nadine Moodley, Nonkululeko Thabethe, Chloe Tryon, Dane van Niekerk

Forthcoming Fixtures

India v South Africa

24 Nov – First ODI, Bangalore
26 Nov – Second ODI, Bangalore
28 Nov – Third ODI, Bangalore

Points Table:

Teams
P
W
L
Tie
N/R
Points
NRR
For
Against

Australia
6
6
0
0
0
12
0.952
1196/236.2
1130/275

West Indies
6
3
3
0
0
6
0.584
1128/257.3
1111/292.4

England
3
2
0
0
1
5
0.686
367/80.1
312/80.1

South Africa
3
1
0
0
1
3
0.583
364/77
315/76

Sri Lanka
3
1
1
0
1
3
-0.583
315/76
364/77

India
3
0
2
0
1
1
-0.686
312/80.1
367.80.1

Pakistan
3
0
3
0
0
0
-1.357
467/125
477/93.4

New Zealand
3
0
3
0
0
0
-1.712
392/150
465/107.5






















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.

Reliance ICC Women’s Player Rankings on ODIs (as on 19 November after Australia-West Indies Series and ahead of India-South Africa): 

Batting

Rank     (+/-)       Player                 Team     Points  Avge         Highest Ranking
  1          ( - )        Mithali Raj          Ind         735       50.05    839 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004
   2         (+5)       Meg Lanning       Aus        727*!    45.64    727 v WI at Bowral 2014
   3         (-1)        C. Edwards          Eng        723!      38.07    723 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
   4         (-1)        Sarah Taylor        Eng        707       39.71    803 v Aus at Chelmsford 2009
   5         (-1)        Stafanie Taylor    WI         675       43.14    765 v Ind at St Kitts (WP) 2012
   6         (-1)        Suzie Bates          NZ         651       37.20    734 v WI at Kingston 2013
   7         (-1)        Harmanpreet Kaur Ind       640*     35.06    673 v SL at Visakhapatnam 2014
   8         (+1)       Deandra Dottin    WI         594       26.98    650 v NZ at Kingston 2013
   9         (-2)        Jessica Cameron  Aus        580       37.63    660 v Pak at Brisbane 2014
  10        ( - )        Alex Blackwell    Aus        561       33.16    683 v Ind at Canberra 2008

Selected Rankings:

Rank      (+/-)      Player                 Team     Points  Avge         Highest Ranking
12         (+9)        Ellyse Perry         Aus        542!      36.03    542 v WI at Bowral 2014
16          (-1)        Marizanne Kapp  SA         531*     33.07    539 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
19          (-1)        Trisha Chetty       SA         492       30.04    531 v SL at Potchefstroom 2013
20          (-1)        Mignon du Preez SA         489       32.31    540 v SL at Potchefstroom 2013
22          ( - )        D. van Niekerk    SA          429*     27.04    431 v SL at Potchefstroom 2013
25          (+28)     Nicole Bolton      Aus        418*!    53.22    418 v WI at Bowral 2014
27          ( - )        Poonam Raut       Ind         408*     26.70    466 v Eng at Lord's 2012
29          (-4)        Jodie Fields         Aus        394       28.34    520 v NZ at Sydney 2012
30          (+2)       Amita Sharma     Ind         391       16.83    505 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2012
32         (+12)       Kycia Knight       WI         388*     20.33    400 v Aus at Bowral 2014
34          (-4)        Erin Osborne       Aus        385*     24.50    398 v WI at Sydney 2014     
37          (-2)        S. Campbelle       WI         379       19.86    403 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
39          ( - )        S. Mandhana        Ind         373*!    33.42    373 v Eng at Scarborough 2014
40          (-9)        Rachael Haynes   Aus        362*     31.28    490 v WI at Mumbai 2013
41          (-1)        Lizelle Lee          SA         353*!    32.25    353 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
43          (-14)      Shanel Daley       WI         349       20.45    473 v NZ at Mumbai 2013
45          (NEW)   Hayley Matthews WI         347*!    60.25    347 v Aus at Bowral 2014
49          (-1)        Jhulan Goswami  Ind         327       12.68    341 v Pak at Cuttack 2013

Bowling

Rank    (+/-)         Player                 Team   Points  Average  Economy     Highest Ranking
   1         ( - )        Stafanie Taylor    WI         711       17.44       3.04        768 v NZ at Kingston 2013
   2         (+1)       Jenny Gunn          Eng        693!     27.00       3.73        693 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
   3         (+1)       Jhulan Goswami  Ind         671       21.36       3.20        796 v Eng at Chennai 2007
   4         (-2)        A. Mohammed    WI         655       17.66        3.28        704 v Aus at Sydney 2014
   5         (+1)       Katherine Brunt   Eng       653       21.52       3.29         796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013
   6         (-1)        Shanel Daley       WI         616       22.09       3.33        664 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
   7         ( - )        Shibnam Ismail   SA         595*!    18.61       3.49        595 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
   8         ( - )        Sana Mir              Pak        590       23.84       3.46        598 v Aus at Brisbane 2014
   9         ( - )        Erin Osborne       Aus        564       25.82       3.98        581 v Eng at Melbourne 2014
  10        (+1)       Ellyse Perry         Aus        547       24.00       4.29        698 v Ind at Mumbai 2012

Selected Rankings:

  12         ( - )       Gouher Sultana    Ind        527*     19.39    3.32            590 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2012
  13        ( - )        Sunette Loubser  SA         524*     17.53    3.04            568 v Pak at Doha 2014
  15        ( - )        D. van Niekerk    SA         511*     15.77    3.28           529 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
  17        (-1)        Tremayne Smartt WI         497*     30.11    3.74           524 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
  20        (+1)       Marizanne Kapp  SA         479*!    24.89    3.56           479 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
  25        (-5)        Sarah Coyte         Aus        443*     20.94    4.24           482 v Eng at Hove 2013
  26        (+5)       Jess Jonassen       Aus        441*!    21.46    4.26          441 v WI at Bowral 2014
  27        (-5)        Shakera Selman   WI         439*     25.53    3.36           467 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
  30        (-2)        Julie Hunter         Aus        413*     24.87    3.68           437 v Pak at Brisbane 2014
  32        (+1)       Marcia Letsoalo  SA          396*     33.21    3.29           400 v Pak at Doha 2014
  34        (+1)       Amita Sharma     Ind          392       32.52    3.73          646 v Pak at Karachi 2005
  35        (-6)        S. Quintyne          WI         384*     26.11    3.82           417 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
  36        ( - )        Ekta Bisht            Ind         378*     23.00    3.82           382 v Ban at Ahmedabad 2013
  37        ( - )        Rene Farrell         Aus        368*     27.27    3.92          456 v Eng at Perth 2011
  38        ( - )        N. Niranjana        Ind         361*     24.95    3.96           394 v Ban at Ahmedabad 2013
  41        (+2)       Megan Schutt      Aus        335*     21.30    4.40           367 v Eng at Hove 2013
  48        ( - )        R. Gayakwad       Ind         288*!    10.40    2.55           288 v Eng at Scarborough 2014
  65        (+36)     Kristen Beams     Aus        225*     28.66    3.44           248 v WI at Bowral 2014
 
All-rounders

Rank    (+/-)        Player                Team     Points      Highest Ranking
  1          ( - )        Stafanie Taylor    WI         480          560 v NZ at Kingston 2013
   2         (+2)       Ellyse Perry         Aus        296!        296 v WI at Bowral 2014
   3         ( - )        Marizanne Kapp  SA         254*/*!    254 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
   4         (+1)       Jenny Gunn          Eng        232          348 v Aus at Melbourne 2008
   5=       (+2)       Jhulan Goswami  Ind         219          245 v Aus at Ahmedabad 2012
              (+2)        D. van Niekerk    SA         219*/*     226 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014