Mandhana climbs to top of Women’s ODI batters’ rankings

India opener Smriti Mandhana on Tuesday climbed to the top of the ICC Women’s ODI Batting Rankings following her fine performances in the just-concluded three-match series against Australia. Mandhana (790 points) made notable scores of 58 and 31 in the series, doing enough to move past South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt (782), who will have the opportunity to reclaim the spot when the Proteas take on New Zealand across

March and April. Making a century in her final ODI, Alyssa Healy signed off in fourth place on the rankings (744), wedged between Beth Mooney (749) and Ashleigh Gardner (724).

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur is the other Indian in the top 10 at ninth position, while Jemimah Rodrigues is on 12th.  Despite losing all three matches of the ODI series, there was joy for Harmanpreet (652), who moved four spots back into the top 10 for batters, thanks to scores of 53, 54 and 25. Deepti Sharma is the lone Indian in the top 10 among bowlers at the 10th spot. Alana King (775) jumped to the top of the Women’s ODI bowling rankings, ending Sophie Ecclestone’s near four-year reign at the top of the rankings. Gardner is placed third. Across the week, King led both the teams with seven wickets at an average of 16.71, claiming 4/33 form 10 overs in the third ODI, helping the hosts to a 185-run victory.