Dubai, July 25 (Agency) England all-rounder Natalie Sciver-Brunt has become the top-ranked batter in the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for the first time in her career after smashing a match-winning century in the final ODI of the ICC Women’s Championship series against Australia in Taunton last Tuesday. Sciver-Brunt’s score of 129 followed an unbeaten 111 in the previous match, taking her ahead of Australia’s Beth Mooney. She has also extended her lead at the top of the all-rounders’ rankingsto 39 rating points over West Indies captain Hayley Matthews.Australia all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner is up two places to a career-best third in the all-rounders’ list while also attaining career-best positions in the batting and bowling rankings. She is up four places to 21st among batters after scoring 41 in Taunton and fifth among bowlers with a haul of three for 39 that followed two other three-wicket hauls, the ICC media release on Tuesday said. Other players to move up after the series are Danni Wyatt of England (up three places to 18th) and Australia’s Tahlia McGrath (up two places to 32nd) among batters, and England off-spinner Charlie Dean (up two places to 13th) among bowlers.
The latest weekly update, that also considers performances in the last two matches of the drawn ICC Women’s Championship series between Bangladesh and India, Bangladesh players Fargana Hoque and Nahida Akter have attained new highs. Fargana’s 565 rating points are the highest by a Bangladesh woman batter, and she is the first from her country to break into the top 20 (19th position) after scoring 107 in the tied final ODI in Mirpur. The previous best was Rumana Ahmed’s 25th position in February 2017. Left-arm spinner Nahida’s figures of three for 37 in the final ODI have helped her move up to 19th position in the bowling rankings. The previous best by a Bangladesh bowler was 20th position reached by Salma Khatun in December 2022.India’s Harleen Deol, named ‘player of the match’ in the final ODI after she top-scored for her team with 77 runs, has advanced 32 places to reach 51st position while Jemimah Rodrigues, who scoreda match-winning 86 in the second ODI, is up 41 places to 55th. Deepti Sharma is in the top 10 for bowlers while Sneh Rana is up three places to 38th.