Series win boosts West Indies to third in ICC Women’s Championship table

“We really wanted to get the six points in the series, but we fell short in the first game,” says West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira

India fast bowler Jhulan Goswami reclaims No.1 ranking after Stafanie Taylor drops to fourth

West Indies has moved up two places to third place in the ICC Women’s Championship after defeating Sri Lanka 2-1 in the third round clash, which concluded in Colombo on Wednesday.

The ICC Women’s Championship is a qualifying tournament for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 and is being participated by Australia, England, India, New Zealand Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies. The top four sides from the ICC Women’s Championship will automatic qualification for the event proper 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.
In the first match of the three-ODI series, Sri Lanka defeated West Indies by six wickets in a low scoring game. Home side’s H.A.S.D. Siriwardene put in a fine all-round display, first by claiming four wickets for 30 with her off-spinners and then following that up with 42 not out as the hosts successfully chased down a meagre target of 124 all out, boosted by Stafanie Taylor’s resilient 43.

In the second ODI, unbeaten half-centuries from Stafanie Taylor (89 not out) and Deandra Dottin (69 not out) lifted the West Indies to 215 for three. Sri Lanka’s left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari was the pick of bowlers with three for 48. Sri Lanka was 99 for four in 24.4 overs when rain came down and reduced the overs to four and revised the target to 209. Second rain stoppage proved to be the end of the match and at that stage, Sri Lanka was170 for eight in 40.2 overs whereas, according to the Duckworth-Lewis Method, it should have been 189. As such, the West Indies drew the series level with an 18 run victory.

In the final game on Wednesday, Sri Lanka dismissed the visitors for 156 after West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first. Once again the spinners did the damage with Inoka Ranaweera (three for 17) putting in a strong performance, as did opening bowler Sripali Weerakkody, who also claimed three for 37. For the West Indies, middle-order batter Britney Cooper (46) fell inches short of a deserved half century in the first innings. In turn, West Indies’ Hayley Matthews put in career-best figures of three wickets for seven, and further contributions from Anisa (two for 23) and Tremayne Smartt (two for 28) bowled the hosts out for 125. Eshani Kaushalya (30) was the home side’ top scorer.

Speaking after Wednesday’s win, West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira said: “After being dismissed for 156 we knew that had to step up to the plate. I think it was definitely a team effort, we went out there as a team, organised ourselves and maintained our focus. I think it was a tremendous job, well done by the team.

“We really wanted to get the six points in the series, but we fell short in the first game. We managed to get the last four points and hopefully, going into the ICC Women’s Championship, we can come out with much more points (in the table).”
As a consequence, in the latest Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Batters, West Indies’ Taylor has dropped one place to seventh, while Sri Lanka’s Chamari Jayangani has tumbled four places to 13th. A number of players have made upwards movement though; Kycia Knight to 28th (up three places), H.A.S.D. Siriwardene to 42nd (up seven places), Prasadani Weerakkody to 71st (up 13) and West Indies’ Britney Cooper to a career high 95th (up 15 places).

However, the biggest movers from either camp were Sri Lanka duo Dilani Surangika in 51st spot (up eight places) and Prasadani Weerakkody (up 18 places to a career high 85th), while there were also significant advances for Pakistan duo Sana Mir (up 13 places to 63rd) and Marina Iqbal (up 22 places to 72nd).

In the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Bowlers, Taylor has dropped three places to fourth, while her team-mate Anisa Mohammed has moved up to second place on 672 points, four points adrift of India’s Jhulan Goswami who now holds top spot. There were also career high rankings for Sri Lanka duo Maduri Samuddika and Inoka Ranaweera (up 11 places to 43rd and up five places to 47th, respectively) as well as West Indies' Hayley Matthews (up 24 places to 58th).
Stafanie Taylor of the West Indies continues to lead the all-rounders’ tables.

In the next series of matches, India will host New Zealand in a bottom-of-the-table series in Bangalore starting on 28 June, while in July England will welcome Australia to the UK with both sides aiming to maintain a positive start in the ICC Women’s Championship.

Forthcoming fixtures:India v New Zealand
28 June – First ODI, Bangalore
1 July – Second ODI, Bangalore
3 July – Third ODI, Bangalore

England v Australia
21 July – First ODI, Taunton
23 July – Second ODI, Bristol
26 July – Third ODI, Worcester

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 (as on 21 May after Sri Lanka-West Indies series):
Batting

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Highest Ranking
1 ( - ) Sarah Taylor Eng 746 40.83 803 v Aus at Chelmsford 2009
2 ( - ) C. Edwards Eng 731 38.49 749 v NZ at Lincoln 2015
3 ( - ) Meg Lanning Aus 727*! 45.64 727 v WI at Bowral 2014
4 ( - ) Mithali Raj Ind 680 48.88 839 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004
5 ( - ) H. Kaur Ind 678*! 36.38 678 v SA at Bangalore 2014
6 (+1) Suzie Bates NZ 668 36.95 734 v WI at Kingston 2013
7 (-1) Stafanie Taylor WI 657 43.26 765 v Ind at St Kitts (WP) 2012
8 ( - ) Deandra Dottin WI 620 28.73 650 v NZ at Kingston 2013
9 ( - ) Jessica Cameron Aus 580 37.63 660 v Pak at Brisbane 2014
10 (+1) Alex Blackwell Aus 561 33.16 683 v Ind at Canberra 2008

Selected Others:

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Highest Ranking
13 (-4) Chamari Jayangani SL 541* 32.39 580 v Pak at Sharjah 2015
28 (+3) Kycia Knight WI 398* 20.16 404 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2015
42 (+7) H.A.S.D.Siriwardene SL 347 19.67 497 v Pak at Canberra 2009
45 (-12) Shemaine Campbelle WI 337 18.79 403 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
48 ( - ) Merissa Aguilleira WI 323 18.40 526 v SA at St Kitts (WP) 2013
56 (+4) Shiromala Weerakkody SL 285 13.60 302 v WI at Dambulla 2013
71 (+13) Prasadani Weerakkody SL 226* 15.05 249 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015
78 (+11) Inoka Ranaweera SL 212*! 7.75 212 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015
95 (+15) Britney Cooper WI 177*! 14.00 177 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2015

Bowling
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Highest Ranking
1 (+1) Jhulan Goswami Ind 676 21.05 796 v Eng at Chennai 2007
2 (+2) Anisa Mohammed WI 672 17.38 704 v Aus at Sydney 2014
3 ( - ) Katherine Brunt Eng 665 22.65 796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013
4 (-3) Stafanie Taylor WI 659 18.14 768 v NZ at Kingston 2013
5 ( - ) Jenny Gunn Eng 619 27.66 693 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
6 (+1) Sana Mir Pak 602 23.28 610 v SA at Sharjah 2015
7 (+1) Shibnam Ismail SA 583* 18.40 595 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
8 (+1) Dane van Niekerk SA 579* 16.13 583 v Ind at Bangalore 2014
9 (-3) Shanel Daley WI 568 22.09 664 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
10 ( - ) Erin Osborne Aus 564 25.82 581 v Eng at Melbourne 2014

Selected Others:

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Highest Ranking
16 (+1) Tremayne Smartt WI 497* 31.00 524 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
18 (-3) H.A.S.D.Siriwardene SL 488 24.27 535 v Eng at Colombo (NCC) 2010
33 (+3) Shiromala Weerakkody SL 377* 33.86 397 v SA at Potchefstroom 2013
34 (+4) Eshani Kaushalya SL 369* 27.60 377 v WI at Dambulla 2013
43 (+11) Maduri Samuddika SL 336*! 31.40 336 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015
47 (+5) Inoka Ranaweera SL 328*! 28.05 328 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015
58 (+24) Hayley Matthews WI 244*! 18.00 244 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2015
59 (-2) Subrina Munroe WI 241* 49.18 261 v Aus at Bowral 2014
68 (-8) Deandra Dottin WI 217* 30.27 241 v Aus at Bowral 2014
69 (+33) Sugandika Kumari SL 213* 24.00 223 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015

All-rounders

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Highest Ranking
1 ( - ) Stafanie Taylor WI 433 560 v NZ at Kingston 2013
2 ( - ) Ellyse Perry Aus 296! 296 v WI at Bowral 2014
3 ( - ) D. van Niekerk SA 281*/*! 281 v Pak at Sharjah 2015
4 ( - ) Marizanne Kapp SA 236/* 273 v Ind at Bangalore 2014
5 ( - ) Jhulan Goswami Ind 233 245 v Aus at Ahmedabad 2012