Sri Lanka and West Indies lock horns in ICC Women’s Championship

Opportunity for both sides to move up the ladder

 

Sri Lanka and West Indies will aim to boost their standings when they go head to head in round three of the ICC Women’s Championship, which starts in Colombo on Wednesday.

The series includes four ODIs but only the final three matches scheduled for 15, 18 and 20 May will count towards the eight-team ICC Women’s Championship. The top four sides from this tournament will qualify automatically for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, while the bottom four sides will play in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier.

 

The West Indies is currently sitting fifth on the table while Sri Lanka is seventh. A 3-0 series victory for the visitors would see it join early pace-setters Australia at the top of the table.

 

Sri Lanka, in contrast, would create daylight between itself and India at the bottom end of the table if it wins the series. A series whitewash would see it move into third position on the league table, while a 2-1 victory for the hosts would see it climb two places to join England on seven points.

Looking ahead to the three-match ODI series, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Atapaththu said: “We are excited to play West Indies in our home town and the team is looking forward to the start of the series.

 

“The ICC Women’s Championship is already proving to be a good initiative for the women’s game and the structure will see each team compete each other in a home and away series which is very important to all teams and will guarantee at least 21 ODI games for each team. This is very important to develop the game and its standards around the world.

 

“Every ODI series that we play is very important to us and this will naturally create awareness and interest across the women’s game.”
West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira added: “The team arrived in Sri Lanka a few days ago and had a successful training camp ahead of the start of the series which gave us an opportunity to get acclimatised to the Sri Lankan conditions.

 

“It is more humid than we are accustomed to but we have adjusted very quickly. The girls are coming off the domestic season in the West Indies and are ready and rearing to go. Although we have some of our experienced players absent due to injury, the players who have replaced them have all been in the team before and have fit very easily into the set up.

 

“We are determined to do well here because, coming out of our series loss in Australia, it is very important for us to gain points in this series to continue to compete for a top spot in the ICC Women’s Championship rankings.”

 

The West Indies will once again be pinning its hopes on Stafanie Taylor, the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2012. The 23-year-old Jamaican will be the highest-ranked batter, bowler and all-rounder from either side in the series.

 

Taylor is ranked sixth in the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Batters, while she tops the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Bowlersas well asReliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for All-rounders.

 

Deandra Dottin is the other West Indies batter inside the top 10 in eighth position while Sri Lanka’s Chamari Jayangani shares ninth spot with Australia’s Jessica Cameron. Apart from Taylor, bowlers inside the top 20 to feature in the series include Anisa Mohammed (fourth) and Shanel Daley (sixth).

 

Squads

 

Sri Lanka (from):Chamari Athapaththu (captain), Chathurani Gunewardena, Ama Kanchana, Sugandhika Kumari, Eshani Lokusuriya, Lasanthi Madushani, Dilani Manodara (wk) , Hasini Perera, Chamari Polgampola, Udeshika Prabodhini, Inoka Ranaweera, Maduri Samuddika, H.A.S.D. Siriwardene, Prasadini Weerakkody (wk) and Sripalee Weerakkody

West Indies (from):Merissa Aguilleira (captain/wk), Shemaine Campbelle, Shamilia Connell, Britney Cooper, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Chinelle Henry, Stacy-Ann King, Kycia Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Subrina Munroe, Tremayne Smartt and Stafanie Taylor

Forthcoming Fixtures

Sri Lanka v West Indies

13 May – First ODI, Colombo*
15 May – Second ODI, Colombo
18 May – Third ODI, Colombo
20 May – Fourth ODI, Colombo

*Denotes that this ODI does not count towards the ICC Women’s Championship

Points table:

 

Teams P W L Tie N/R Points NRR
Australia 6 6 0 0 0 12 0.952
South Africa 9 5 3 0 1 11 0.097
Pakistan 9 4 5 0 0 8 -0.145
England 6 3 2 0 1 7 0.308
West Indies 6 3 3 0 0 6 0.584
New Zealand 6 2 4 0 0 4 -0.876
Sri Lanka 6 1 4 0 1 3 -0.347
India 6 1 4 0 1 3 -0.371

 

Note – two points for a win, no point for a loss and one point for a no-result

Reliance ICC Women’s Player Rankings on ODIs (as on 11 May, ahead of Sri Lanka-West Indies):  

Batters

 

Rank      Player                   Team     Pts          Ave         HS 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           Stafanie Taylor    WI          675        43.14     765 v Ind at St Kitts (WP) 2012

7           Suzie Bates           NZ          668        36.95     734 v WI at Kingston 2013

8           Deandra Dottin    WI          594        26.98     650 v NZ at Kingston 2013

9=        Jessica Cameron  Aus         580        37.63     660 v Pak at Brisbane 2014

C. Jayangani        SL           580*!    33.44     580 v Pak at Sharjah 2015

Selected Rankings:

 

Rank      Player                   Team     Pts          Ave         HS Ranking
26           E. Kaushalya        SL           404        15.84     482 v Ind at Mumbai 2013
31           Kycia Knight        WI          388*      20.33     400 v Aus at Bowral 2014
33           S. Campbelle        WI          379        19.86     403 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
43           H.Matthews          WI          347*!    60.25     347 v Aus at Bowral 2014
48           M. Aguilleira         WI          323        18.40     526 v SA at St Kitts (WP) 2013
49           H.A.S.D.Siri’ne      SL           322        19.28     497 v Pak at Canberra 2009

Bowling

Rank      Player                   Team     Pts          Ave         Highest Ranking

1           Stafanie Taylor    WI          711        17.44     768 v NZ at Kingston 2013

2           Jhulan Goswami  Ind          676        21.05     796 v Eng at Chennai 2007

3           Katherine Brunt   Eng         665        22.65     796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013

4           A. Mohammed    WI          655        17.66     704 v Aus at Sydney 2014

5           Jenny Gunn          Eng         619        27.66     693 v Ind at Scarborough 2014

6           Shanel Daley        WI          616        22.09     664 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014

7           Sana Mir               Pak         602        23.28     610 v SA at Sharjah 2015

8           Shibnam Ismail   SA           583*      18.40     595 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014

9           D. van Niekerk     SA           579*      16.13     583 v Ind at Bangalore 2014

10         Erin Osborne         Aus         564        25.82     581 v Eng at Melbourne 2014

Selected Rankings:

15         H.A.S.D.Siri’ne      SL           503        23.95     535 v Eng at Colombo (NCC) 2010

17         T. Smartt               WI          497*      30.11     524 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014

36         S. Weerakkody    SL           364*      35.70     397 v SA at Potchefstroom 2013

38         E. Kaushalya        SL           354*      27.88     377 v WI at Dambulla 2013

49         U. Prabodhani      SL           296*      44.46     326 v SA at Potchefstroom 2013

All-rounders

 

Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Highest Ranking

1           Stafanie Taylor    WI          480        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