Shafali Verma Number 1 in ICC Women’s T20I Batswomen rankings, England spinner Sophie Ecclestone top bowler

Shafali Verma, the 16-year-old explosive India opener, and England spinner Sophie Ecclestone have not only made their mark in the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 but are also ranked Number 1 in the batswomen and bowlers ranking issued by the world cricket body on Wednesday (March 4, 2020). Shafali Verma and Sophie Ecclestone will be playing in the first semifinal of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 on Thursday (March 5) at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground in Australia when India and England face off.

Shafali’s explosive batting at the top of the order saw her score 161 runs in four innings including knocks of 47 and 46 against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, which helped her become only the second India batter after Mithali Raj to top the Women’s T20I batting rankings. India won all their four league matches to top Group A and storm into the semifinals.

The young Indian batswoman dethrones New Zealand’s Suzie Bates, who had been the top batter since October 2018 after wresting the spot from West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor.

Sophie Ecclestone, who took eight wickets in four matches including a best of three for seven against the West Indies, is the first England bowler to be number one since Anya Shrubsole in April 2016 and the first England spinner at the top since Danni Hazell in August 2015.

Some fine performances across teams saw a number of batters and bowlers move up the rankings including those who could not make it to the knockout-stage of the 10-team tournament. Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu moved from 18th to 14th spot for batters. England’s Nat Sciver is again in the top 10 and captain Heather Knight in the top 15 for the first time, South Africa opener Laura Wolvaardt has advanced 23 places to 44th, Pakistan’s Aliya Riaz has gained 24 places and is 48th while New Zealand’s Maddy Green is in the top 100 after advancing 28 slots.

In the bowlers’ list, leg-spinners Amelia Kerr of New Zealand (up two places to fourth), India’s Poonam Yadav (up four places to eighth) and Australia’s George Wareham (up nine places to 10th) have all made significant gains in the latest rankings update. Other bowlers to advance include new-ball bowler Diana Baig of Pakistan (up 34 places to 13th), Shashikala Siriwardena of Sri Lanka (up seven places to 14th), Anya Shrubsole of England (up five places to 17th), Dane van Niekerk of South Africa (up 12 places to joint-22nd) and Shikha Pandey of India (up 23 places to joint-22nd).

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine is now the sole number one all-rounder after coming into the tournament as a joint number one along with Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry. India’s Deepti Sharma has advanced nine places to seventh, the first time that she is among the top 10 in the all-rounders’ list after also moving up to 53rd among batters.

Australia remain at the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s T20I Team Rankings with 290 points and England in second position with 278.

MRF Tyres ICC Women’s T20I Player Rankings (as of 4 March after the league phase of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020)

Batswomen (top 10)
Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Avge	S/R	Highest Rating
1	(+19)	Shafali Verma	India	761!	28.52	147	761 v SL at Melbourne 2020
2	(-1)	Suzie Bates	NZ	750	30.3	112	770 v Pak at Guyana 2018
3	( - )	Beth Mooney	Aus	746	36.37	123	766 v India at Mumbai 2018
4	(-2)	Sophie Devine	NZ	742	31.36	127	749 v SL at Perth 2020
5	( - )	Meg Lanning	Aus	708	35.82	117	785 v WI at Melbourne 2014
6	(-2)	S Mandhana	India	701	25.44	119	732 v Aus at Melbourne 2020
7	(-1)	Alyssa Healy	Aus	689	24.89	130	717 v SL at Sydney 2019
8	( - )	Stafanie Taylor	WI	661	36.39	104	836 v NZ at St Lucia 2010
9	(-2)	J Rodrigues	India	658	27.35	112	753 v NZ at Auckland 2019
10	(+4)	Natalie Sciver	Eng	636!	25.9	112	636 v WI at Sydney 2020

Other selected rankings
Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Avge	S/R	Highest Rating
14	(+4)	C Athapaththu	SL	598!	20.08	98	598 v Ban at Melbourne 2020
15	(+7)	Heather Knight	Eng	590	22.78	119	593 v Pak at Canberra 2020
23	(+1)	NChantam	Tha	546	22.77	87	602 v Net at Deventer 2019
26	(+7)	Nigar Sultana	Ban	525!	23.18	88	525 v SL at Melbourne 2020
38=	(+7)	Katey Martin	NZ	432!	18.86	112	432 v Aus at Melbourne 2020
41	(+4)	M Kapp	SA	426	19.3	96	492 v India at Bangalore 2014
44=	(+23)	L Wolvaardt	SA	419*!	20.26	100	419 v Pak at Sydney 2020
48	(+24)	Aliya Riaz	Pak	409!	18.75	92	409 v Tha at Sydney 2020
53	(+18)	Deepti Sharma	India	387*!	17.72	90	387 v SL at Melbourne 2020
60	(+8)	S Campbelle	WI	342	14.42	83	393 v Aus at Sydney 2014

Bowlers (top 10)
Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Avge	Eco	Highest Rating
1	(+2)	S Ecclestone	Eng	779!	15.32	6	779 v WI at Sydney 2020
2	(-1)	Megan Schutt	Aus	753	15.85	5.98	806 v Pak at Guyana 2018
3	(-1)	Shabnim Ismail	SA	745	18.45	5.74	751 v India at Surat 2019
4	(+2)	Amelia Kerr	NZ	740!	19.52	5.68	740 v Aus at Melbourne 2020
5	(-1)	Deepti Sharma	India	723	19.39	5.86	746 v WI at Guyana 2019
6	(+2)	Jess Jonassen	Aus	719	20.58	5.39	722 v Ban at Canberra 2020
7	(-3)	Radha Yadav	India	712	16	6.21	769 v WI at Guyana 2019
8	(+4)	Poonam Yadav	India	704	14.22	5.61	733 v Ire at Guyana 2018
9	(-2)	Ellyse Perry	Aus	702	19.38	5.86	767 v NZ at Nelson 2010
10	(+9)	G Wareham	Aus	671*!	13.5	5.7	671 v NZ at Melbourne 2020

Other selected rankings
Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Avge	Eco	Highest Rating
13	(+34)	Diana Baig	Pak	658!	21.57	5.68	658 v Tha at Sydney 2020
14=	(+7)	S Siriwardena	SL	635	20.75	5.8	690 v Eng at Sylhet 2014
17	(+5)	Anya Shrubsole	Eng	612	14.68	5.9	755 v WI at Dharamsala 2016
19	(+18)	U Prabodhani	SL	609	24.42	5.15	726 v Ban at Sylhet 2014
21	(+55)	Sarah Glenn	Eng	587*!	12.93	5.24	587 v WI at Sydney 2020
22=	(+12)	D van Niekerk	SA	583	20.74	5.41	645 v Eng at Paarl 2016
	(+23)	Shikha Pandey	India	583	23.47	6.19	594 v NZ at Melbourne 2020
28	(+37)	Hayley Jensen	NZ	562!	24	6.67	562 v Aus at Melbourne 2020
32=	(+12)	R Gayakwad	India	546!	17.71	6.33	546 v SL at Melbourne 2020
39	(+3)	A Mohammed	WI	513	17.3	5.56	754 v India at Ahmedabad 2011
46=	(+7)	S Selman	WI	483	26.83	5.65	561 v Ire at Dublin 2019
55=	(+4)	C Athapaththu	SL	444	31.38	7.08	447 v Eng at Colombo (PSS) 2019
	(+19)	Anna Peterson	NZ	444*!	23.72	6.88	444 v Aus at Melbourne 2020
67=	(+16)	Aiman Anwer	Pak	417*	22.3	6.75	444 v WI at Karachi 2019
71	(+30)	Nicola Carey	Aus	407*!	22.37	6.39	407 v NZ at Melbourne 2020
74	(+10)	R.Padunglerd	Tha	396*	18.15	5.21	397 v SA at Canberra 2020
96=	(+18)	Ritu Moni	Ban	308*!	16.68	5.18	308 v SL at Melbourne 2020

All-rounders (top five)
Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Highest Rating
1	( - )	Sophie Devine	NZ	398	405 v Ban at Melbourne 2020
2	(-1)	Ellyse Perry	Aus	394	421 v India at Canberra 2020
3	( - )	Natalie Sciver	Eng	349!	349 v WI at Sydney 2020
4=	(+1)	D van Niekerk	SA	304	387 v Ire at Chennai 2016
	( - )	HMatthews	WI	304	403 v NZ at Bay Oval 2018

Four-time champion Australia play South Africa in the second semifinal later on Thursday after the India-England match. Both the semifinals are at the Sydney Cricket Ground.