Ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2024, the race to the top of the ICC Women’s T20I Player Rankings is more competitive than ever. In the United Arab Emirates, the competition begins on Thursday. Ten nations will compete to become the world champions on October 20.
At the conclusion of the month, several players will be aiming to be at the top of the ICC batting, bowling, and all-rounder rankings, even if their primary focus will be on leading their teams to victory.
The top five hitters are now separated by just 22 points, with West Indies’ Hayley Matthews leading the race to become the first non-Australian to reach the top three in three years.
To do so, she will need to overcome Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath of Australia. Mooney is already leading the field with 757 points, nine ahead of her fellow countrywoman and previous No. 1 McGrath.
In Australia’s practice match against England last week, Mooney demonstrated why she is the player to beat with an outstanding half-century off 30 balls. With a career-high score of 746, Matthews is two points behind. Smriti Mandhana of India is also in the running with a score of 743, while Laura Wolvaardt is not far behind with 735.
With so little separating the top five players, strong performances from any of them could upset the individual rankings. Six nations are represented in the top ten. Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine of New Zealand are ranked ninth and tenth, respectively, while Chamari Athapaththu of Sri Lanka is only nine points shy of the 700-point mark.
Nigar Sultana, the captain of Bangladesh, is the first female batter to reach 600 points, placing seven nations in the top 13.
There are only 12 points separating first and fourth in the bowling standings, which are also fiercely contested.
With 757 points, Sophie Ecclestone of England is in first place, but she is only two points ahead of Deepti Sharma of India. With England’s Sarah Glenn scoring five more back on 745 and Pakistan’s Sadia Iqbal scoring 750, the top four players are all spinners.
Renuka Singh Thakur and Lauren Bell are the only seamers among the top 15 bowlers, with 13 of them being spinners. With 722, Thakur is in fifth place, 35 points from the top.
With 676 points, Bell is ranked 11th and joins Ecclestone, Glenn, and Charlie Dean, who is ranked 13th, as the only English bowlers in the top 15. Georgia Wareham’s form has propelled her up six spots to 14th place, while Ash Gardner leads the way for the reigning champions in ninth place. Only Australia has five bowlers in the top 20.
The top 20 countries include eight different countries. Inoshi Fernando of Sri Lanka is in seventh place among those attempting to reach the 700 mark this month with 691 points, followed by Rabeya Khan of Bangladesh in tenth place with 677.
With a total of 524, West Indies’ Hayley Matthews leads Australia’s Ash Gardner by a comfortable 109 points in the all-rounder standings. The top six all-rounders are all from different countries; Deepti Sharma of India and Amelia Kerr of New Zealand are all barely short of 400 points.
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The only other all-rounder to score more than 300 is Chamari Athapaththu of Sri Lanka, with 330. Nida Dar of Pakistan completes a top six that demonstrates the variety of skills that will be on display with bat and ball at the forthcoming T20 World Cup.
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