Tazmin-Brits

South Africa star atop T20 World Cup fielding rankings

Tazmin-Brits

As shown by the two semi-finals, runs saved and chances taken have proved crucial in separating sides, with Australia and South Africa holding their nerve against India and England respectively.

Removing Alice Capsey with a sprawling, match-changing catch, as well as three more grabs to help South Africa down the more-fancied semi-final foes, Brits also moved past her rivals and will be tough to edge come the tournament final on Sunday.

Best catches of the tournament so far | Women's T20WC 2023

Best catches so far from the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023

Alongside Official Data Partner Sportradar and their Fielding Impact Ratings, we've crunched the numbers to work out who has made the biggest impact.

Women's T20 World Cup Fielding Ratings

All the angles of Tazmin Brits' 'Wonder Woman' catch | Women's T20WC 2023

Tazmin Brits took four catches in South Africa's semi-final against England including an incredible one-hander to dismiss Alice Capsey at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023

Brits has more catches than anyone at the tournament (six) and just one dropped attempt sees the 32-year-old hold on to a healthy lead at the head of proceedings.

England veteran Katherine Sciver-Brunt is second on the rankings, with the right-armer having taken four catches and saved a total of three runs in the field.

Rounding out the top five are Australia duo Grace Harris (third) and Ellyse Perry (fifth), sandwiched by England all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt (fourth).

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Grace Harris took a spectacular outfield catch for Australia against Sri Lanka at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023.

How are fielders assessed?

Fielders are awarded points for actions on the field, from taking catches and completing run outs, stopping runs and tangible moments of forced pressure on the pair batting in the middle.

Players start with a net score of zero before every game at the tournament, finishing with a figure (either positive or negative) reflecting their impact in the field.

Scores from the algorithm are then added up across matches, giving players an overall impact score. In some cases, there is extra weighting on key fielding moments, in crucial points of a match.

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Impactis a key word to emphasise, with the score not necessarily determining the bestfielder in absolute terms, but rather determining who causes the most effect on certain passages of play.

A good example for instance would be Brits' catch to remove Alice Capsey in the semi-final: a catch that merits big scores for impact.

First, it was a difficult catch running out of the inner circle, with the ball dipping, and eventually taken at full stretch just centimetres from the turf.

Second, it was taken to dismiss a top-order batter in Capsey, and third, it came in the final over of the Powerplay, with England, despite the loss of Sophia Dunkley moments, still motoring at a run rate just under ten.

Not only a key player at the top of the order for the Proteas come Sunday's T20 World Cup final, it'd be remiss to underestimate the 32-year-old's role in the field, even against the tournament's goliath.

ICC Women's T20 World Cup, South Africa, 2023Women's T20 World CupWomen's Rankings