Australia and West Indies gear up for top-of-the-table ICC Women’s Championship series

Lanning: “ We are expecting a fierce contest for the top spot on the ladder”

Aguilleira: “ We top the standings right now and want to be there when the series is finished”

Australia will host the West Indies in a top-of-the-table clash in round two of the ICC Women’s Championship, as the early pace-setters look to cement their advantage in what is set to be a thrilling series in Sydney (which will host the opening two ODI’s) and then Bowral.

Australia, the reigning world champion, and the West Indies are on equal points after the first round, but the visitors occupy the top spot due to their better net run-rate. Australia blanked out Pakistan while the West Indies brushed aside New Zealand in first round matches.

The 11, 13 and 16 November matches will count towards the ICC Women’s Championship, which is a qualifying tournament for the ICC Women’s World Cup. The top four sides from this event will progress to the 2017 event 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 will see 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.

Later this month, India will host South Africa in another second round fixture. The matches will be played in Bengaluru on 24, 26 and 28 November, while schedule of Pakistan-Sri Lanka and England-New Zealand matches will be announced in due course.

In the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Batters, West Indies’ vice-captain Stafanie Taylor in fourth position is the highest-ranked batter from either side, 10 points adrift of fellow ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year nominee, England’s Sarah Taylor.

In all, there are three Australia players inside the top 10, with Jessica Cameron and captain Meg Lanning tied in seventh place on 635 points. Both the batters have India’s Harmanpreet Kaur’s in their sights, who holds a 10-point advantage.

Meanwhile, in the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Bowlers, again it’s West Indies all-rounder Taylor who leads the way. The 23-year-old number-one ranked Jamaican off-spinner currently holds a commanding 27-point lead at the top, with her team-mate Anisa Mohammed behind her in second place and Shanel Daley another three places back in fifth.

Australia’s Erin Osborne is the highest-ranked player for the hosts in ninth place and will be aiming to reduce Pakistan’s Sana Mir’s 23-point lead. Ellyse Perry lies in 11th place, having improved her ratings place by one following her side’s opening round series victory over Pakistan.

Rival captains Lanning and Aguilleira expected an exciting and thrilling series.

Looking ahead to the series, Lanning said: “The introduction of the ICC Women’s Championship has been a very positive step for women’s cricket. To have the opportunity to host Pakistan in a bilateral series was a unique experience for our team and we really enjoyed the competitive nature of the ODI matches.

“As the reigning ICC Women’s World Cup champion, it was a huge honour to play the first official match of the inaugural Championship and every series that we play is an integral step in our campaign towards the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.

“We are looking forward to the second round of the ICC Women’s Championship when we take on the West Indies, whom we currently share top position on the points table. We are expecting a fierce contest for the top spot on the ladder and we have a squad that is well equipped to prevail.

“We are excited that Cricket Australia will be live streaming the matches and we hope that our fans all over the world tune in to support us.”

Previewing the series, Aguilleira said: “During the series against New Zealand, we had a mission - we wanted to win every game and we accomplished it. We gave evidence that we were maturing as a team. We had players coming out in every match and putting their hands up and performing. There is still room for improvement however, and we are looking forward to this new challenge against Australia.

“Our previous trip to Australia was for the ICC Women’s World Cup five years ago and we did not have much success, so we want to continue working hard and making progress to leave a lasting impression. We need to remain focused because it will be a tough contest. We top the standings right now and want to be there when the series is finished.”

Squads

Australia (from): Meg Lanning (captain), Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell, Nicole Bolton, Jess Cameron, Sarah Coyte, Rene Farrell, Alyssa Healy (wkt), Julie Hunter, Jess Jonassen, Erin Osborne, Ellyse Perry, Elyse Villani

West Indies (from): Merissa Aguilleira (captain/wkt), Shemaine Campbelle, Shamilia Connell, Britney Cooper, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Kycia Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Subrina Munroe, Shaquana Quintyne, Tremayne Smartt, Shakera Selman, Stafanie Taylor

Forthcoming fixtures:

Australia v West Indies
11 Nov – First ODI, Sydney
13 Nov – Second ODI, Sydney
16 Nov – Third ODI, Bowral

Live Cricket

The Australia-West Indies series will be livestreamed via the Cricket Australia website.

Points Table

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 9 November ahead of Australia-West Indies Series):
Batting

Rank Player Team Points Avge Highest Ranking
1 Mithali Raj Ind 735 50.05 839 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004
2 C. Edwards Eng 723! 38.07 723 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
3 Sarah Taylor Eng 707 39.71 803 v Aus at Chelmsford 2009
4 Stafanie Taylor WI 697 43.50 765 v Ind at St Kitts (WP) 2012
5 Suzie Bates NZ 651 37.20 734 v WI at Kingston 2013
6 H. Kaur Ind 640* 35.06 673 v SL at Visakhapatnam 2014
7= Jessica Cameron Aus 635 38.53 660 v Pak at Brisbane 2014
Meg Lanning Aus 635* 39.22 673 v Eng at Hove 2013
9 Deandra Dottin WI 626 27.44 650 v NZ at Kingston 2013
10 Alex Blackwell Aus 602 33.79 683 v Ind at Canberra 2008
Selected Rankings:

Rank Player Team Points Avge Highest Ranking
21 Ellyse Perry Aus 460 28.40 499 v Eng at Hobart 2014
25 Jodie Fields Aus 427 28.34 520 v NZ at Sydney 2012
29 Shanel Daley WI 397 21.29 473 v NZ at Mumbai 2013
30 Erin Osborne Aus 393*! 25.92 393 v Pak at Brisbane 2014
31 Rachael Haynes Aus 392* 31.28 490 v WI at Mumbai 2013
35 S. Campbelle WI 387 19.58 403 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
43 M. Aguilleira WI 347 18.98 526 v SA at St Kitts (WP) 2013
44 Kycia Knight WI 339*! 19.30 339 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
53 Nicole Bolton Aus 312*! 61.40 312 v Pak at Brisbane 2014
54 Sarah Coyte Aus 309* 25.27 359 v SL at Mumbai 2013
55 S. Quintyne WI 295* 16.93 335 v NZ at Lincoln 2014

Bowling
Rank Player Team Points Average Economy Highest Ranking
1 Stafanie Taylor WI 723 17.16 3.00 768 v NZ at Kingston 2013
2 A. Mohammed WI 696! 16.67 3.16 696 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
3 Jenny Gunn Eng 693! 27.00 3.73 693 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
4 Jhulan Goswami Ind 671 21.36 3.20 796 v Eng at Chennai 2007
5 Shanel Daley WI 664*! 21.56 3.26 664 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
6 Katherine Brunt Eng 653 21.52 3.29 796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013
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 567* 26.56 3.95 581 v Eng at Melbourne 2014
10 Holly Colvin Eng 538 21.80 3.58 715 v Aus at Lord's 2009

Selected Rankings:

11 Ellyse Perry Aus 529 24.29 4.31 698 v Ind at Mumbai 2012
16 Tremayne Smartt WI 500* 29.54 3.75 524 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
20 Sarah Coyte Aus 480* 20.94 4.24 482 v Eng at Hove 2013
22 Shakera Selman WI 463* 24.92 3.30 467 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
28 Julie Hunter Aus 428* 23.39 3.55 437 v Pak at Brisbane 2014
29 S. Quintyne WI 417*! 24.76 3.73 417 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
31 Jess Jonassen Aus 407*! 20.46 4.29 407 v Pak at Brisbane 2014
37 Rene Farrell Aus 364* 27.24 3.80 456 v Eng at Perth 2011
43 Megan Schutt Aus 327* 22.19 4.24 367 v Eng at Hove 2013
59= Subrina Munroe WI 237* 43.70 3.64 257 v NZ at Lincoln 2014

All-rounders

Rank Player Team Points Highest Ranking
1 Stafanie Taylor WI 504 560 v NZ at Kingston 2013
2 Shanel Daley WI 264/* 273 v Aus at Mumbai 2013
3 Marizanne Kapp SA 254*/*! 254 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
4 Ellyse Perry Aus 243 286 v Eng at Hobart 2014
5 Jenny Gunn Eng 232 348 v Aus at Melbourne 2008