Daily Times

LAHORE: New Zealand star Suzie Bates has returned to the top five of the ICC Women’s T20I Batting Rankings and India captain Harmanpreet Kaur has made it back to the top 10 of the list after the weekly update carried out on Tuesday. Bates, a formerly top-ranked batter, has advanced three places to reach fifth position after scores of 44 and 52 helped her team take a winning 2-0 lead in their three-match series in Sri Lanka while Kaur’s match-winning 54 not out off 35 balls in the opening T20I of their three-match series in Bangladesh has lifted her four places to 10th position.

In the latest update, that also considers performances in the second and third matches of the England-Australia series as well as all three matches of the West Indies versus Ireland series, West Indies skipper Hayley Matthews is a significant gainer after being named ‘player of the series’ for contributions with both bat and ball. Matthews has moved up five places to 17th among batters after scores of 37, 50 and 48 while her eight wickets in the series have lifted her three places to seventh position among bowlers. She has also attained a career-best 422 rating points in the all-rounders’ list but remains second, behind Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner with 435 rating points. Matthews has been the top all-rounder in the past, having first attained number-one position in October 2017. New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr is another all-rounder to prosper. She is up two places to 15th among batters after scores of 34 and 33 not out and up three places to 11th among bowlers after taking two wickets in the first match. She has also inched up one slot to third among all-rounders.

Other batters to gain in the T20I rankings are Danni Wyatt of England (up three places to 14th) and Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry (up six places to 25th). In the bowling rankings, New Zealand pacer Lea Tuhuhu (up two places to sixth), New Zealand spinner Fran Jonas (up three places to 16th) and Sri Lanka’s left-arm seamer Udeshika Prabodhani (up eight places to 28th) have all progressed.

In the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings that were updated after the three-match series between the Netherlands and Thailand in Amstelveen that ended 1-1 with one match abandoned without a ball being bowled, Thai opener Natthakan Chantham has moved up seven places to 22nd after scores of 65 and 64 and captain Naruemol Chaiwi is up seven places to 36th. Dutch seam bowler Iris Zwilling has moved up eight places to 41st after grabbing five wickets in two matches.