ICC to launch Women's ODI Player Rankings

Haroon Lorgat, ICC Chief Executive, outlines the reasons for the development of the Reliance Mobile ODI Player Rankings for women.

There are many things that excite me in my job at the International Cricket Council which I look forward to working on and one such area that I am particularly keen to see develop is women’s cricket.

The next 12 months promises to be some of the most exciting in the history of the game, with the ICC Women’s World Cup in March 2009, the first time this competition will be played under the banner of the ICC, and a joint men’s and women’s event at the ICC World Twenty20 2009.

This provides opportunities to women’s cricket to promote itself like never before, with a global broadcast audience able to follow matches on television or over the internet.

Like any form of the game and indeed any sport, women’s cricket needs to recognise its heroes, which we do every year through the LG ICC Awards and the Women’s Player of the Year Award.

But we felt there is more we can do, so I am delighted to reveal today that the ICC will this year launch the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for women’s ODI cricket.

This is an important part of the commitment of the ICC and its global partners, such as Reliance Mobile, to develop the women’s game. It also recognises the increased number of matches played by the top international sides, which before would have made such a project impossible.

Individual sports, such as golf and tennis, have been traditionally suited to individual player rankings, but the development of the Reliance Mobile ODI Player Rankings has created a credible and reliable guide to who the leading stars are in men’s international cricket and created some interesting and exciting personal duels as players strive to become the number one in their individual disciplines.

I am sure that the same principles will apply when the women’s rankings are launched, adding an extra level of interest to the ever growing popularity of the women’s game.

The other key benefit of the Reliance Mobile ODI Player Rankings will be that they provide a guide to fans not familiar with the women’s game on who are our stars, which will help provide profile and personality to the leading female players.

This will mean that when international cricket fans tune into the matches at the ICC Women’s World Cup, which is only six months away, they will instantly be able to recognise some of the game’s major players.

In the group stages of the competition, fans will be able to look forward to watching Australian fast bowler Emma Sampson take on the batting prowess of Nicola Browne, enjoy the batting talents of Claire Taylor combat one of the world’s fastest bowlers Jhulan Goswami of India, and see Mithali Raj attempt to overcome the accuracy of England’s Isa Guha.

The development of women’s rankings is an important step forward in the expansion of the sport and is another example of the steps taken by the ICC since taking over the governance of the women’s game in 2005 from the International Women’s Cricket Council.

I am aware that there is some skepticism about women’s cricket, but when I speak to these critics I often find many of them have not watched the game before. I challenge such people to watch our global events in 2009 and appreciate the skill and talent of the game’s leading stars.

The women’s version of the sport may not have the power of the men’s game, although anybody who saw Ellyse Perry’s straight six at the MCG earlier this year couldn’t help be impressed by her big hitting, but there is also an interesting finesse to the game, which I hope people will learn to appreciate in the same way fans have come to love the female versions of basketball, golf and tennis to name just a few.

The first set of rankings will not be published until next month, ahead of what promises to be an exciting series between Australia and India in November, but I hope all of the game’s stakeholders, including players, media and spectators, will enjoy following the rankings as much as I would.

If they can encourage a young girl in any part of the world, be it Australia, India or the West Indies, to want to become the next Lisa Sthalekar, Charlotte Edwards or Aimee Mason then that has to be a good thing for the long-term development of the sport. And of course, it would make our strong sport grow even stronger.