“I know this series will be competitive”, says West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor
West Indies has a chance to join Australia at the top of the ICC Women’s Championship table if it can blank Pakistan when they go head to head in round four of the ICC Women’s Championship, which starts in St. Lucia on Friday.
A 3-0 series victory would elevate Stafanie Taylor’s side, which currently lies a point clear of England in third position, to the top of the table. A 2-1 win for the hosts would also see it progress and leapfrog second-placed South Africa, and in that scenario Sana Mir’s team would also move up to fourth place. In the event of a 3-0 away victory for Pakistan, it would move into second place on 14 points.
In all, the sides will play four ODI’s in St. Lucia, with the opening game on Friday the only clash that will not count towards the ICC Women’s Championship, which is a qualifying tournament for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, which is being participated in by Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.
The top four sides from the ICC Women’s Championship will gain automatic qualification for the event proper which is to be staged in England, while the bottom four sides will get a final chance of qualification through the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in 2017. The tournament structure sees each team will play each other in one home or away series that will include three ODIs over a two and a half year period. As such, each side is guaranteed at least 21 ODIs over the tournament period.
In welcoming Pakistan to the Caribbean ahead of the start of the series, West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor also outlined her side’s ambitions to progress up the rankings. “I would like to welcome Pakistan to the West Indies and we are extremely excited as we look forward with anticipation to this upcoming series”, she said.
“The ICC Women’s Championship has been an excellent initiative and it has given the top eight countries an opportunity to participate against each other. I know this series will be competitive; ultimately our aim is to move up the rankings and as such we plan to dominate at home, thereby achieving a clean sweep.”
Pakistan captain Sana Mir added: “We know that the West Indies will be difficult opponents, but we travel with confidence and we’re keen to get some points to enable us to move up the ICC Women’s Championship table. We have a good blend of youth and experience and it will be a superb challenge for our younger players, especially in conditions which are a whole lot different than what we are used to.
“The West Indies are a strong side with some outstanding individuals right across their team. You only need to look at their standing in the rankings to see that. So it will be a good test and one we’re indeed excited about it.”
In the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Bowlers, the top 10 features three West Indies players with second-placed Anisa Mohammed holding a 13-point lead over off-spinner Taylor. Shanel Daley lies in 11th position and will be aiming to reduce Dane van Niekerk’s 11-point advantage, while Tremayne Smartt (18th) is three appearances short of the 50-cap mark and the only other player inside the top 20. Pakistan duo Asmavia Iqbal and Nida Dar are tied for 22nd place, while the other bowlers set to feature in the series are Shakera Selman (22nd), Bismah Maroof (47th) and Anam Amin (48th), who trails Maroof by six points.
West Indies head into the series with the highest ranked batters in the latest ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Batters on either side in sixth-placed Taylor and Deandra Dottin (ninth). The highest ranked Pakistan batter is Bismah Maroof (12th) whose next ODI will be her 75th appearance for her country. Other batters who are likely to feature in the series are Kycia Knight (28th), Nain Abidi (31st) and Hayley Matthews (35th). In total, 28 points and six places separate Merissa Aguilleira (42nd), Sana Mir (44th) and Asmavia Iqbal (48th) who will all be eyeing an improvement in their rankings.
Taylor continues to lead the all-rounders’ ranking and holds a strong advantage over Australia’s Ellyse Perry.
Match Officials: Gregory Brathwaite, Jacqueline Williams, Joel Wilson
Squads
West Indies (from): Stafanie Taylor (captain), Merissa Aguilleira, Shamilia Connell, Britney Cooper, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Stacy-Ann King, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Shakera Selman, Tremayne Smartt
Pakistan (from): Sana Mir (captain), Nain Abidi, Anam Amin, Sidra Amin, Diana Baig, Nida Dar, Asmavia Iqbal, Marina Iqbal, Sania Iqbal, Iram Javed, Bismah Maroof, Aliya Riaz, Rabiya Shah, Sumaiya Siddiqui, Javeria Wadood, Ayesha Zafar
Forthcoming fixtures
West Indies v Pakistan
16 October – First ODI, St. Lucia 18 October – Second ODI, St. Lucia* 21 October – Third ODI, St. Lucia* 24 October – Fourth ODI, St. Lucia*
*Denotes ICC Women’s Championship fixture
Points table:
| ICC Women’s Championship 2014 – 2016 | |||||||
| Teams | P | W | L | Tie | N/R | Points | NRR |
| Australia | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0.922 |
| South Africa | 9 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 0.097 |
| West Indies | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.382 |
| England | 9 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | -0.163 |
| Pakistan | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 | -0.145 |
| New Zealand | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 | -0.509 |
| Sri Lanka | 9 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | -0.232 |
| India | 9 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | -0.286 |
Note – two points for a win, no point for a loss and one point for a no-result
ICC Women’s ODI Team Rankings:
The ICC Women’s Championship is being contested by the following eight teams who have been seeded according to their rankings following the ICC Women’s World Cup India 2013:
- Australia
- West Indies
- England
- New Zealand
- Sri Lanka
- South Africa
- India
- Pakistan
Following the completion of the round-robin matches, the final standings of the points table will represent each team’s final event ranking, and the top four teams will automatically qualify for the ICC WWC 2017.
ICC Women’s Player Rankings (as on 14 October, ahead of West Indies-Pakistan series):
Batting
Rank Player Team Points Ave Highest Ranking
1 Meg Lanning Aus 796*! 47.21 796 v Eng at Worcester 2015
2 Sarah Taylor Eng 717 40.22 803 v Aus at Chelmsford 2009
3 C. Edwards Eng 695 38.21 749 v NZ at Lincoln 2015
4 Mithali Raj Ind 679 48.82 839 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004
5 Suzie Bates NZ 674 36.54 734 v WI at Kingston 2013
6 Stafanie Taylor WI 657 43.26 765 v Ind at St Kitts (WP) 2012
7 H. Kaur Ind 643 35.62 678 v SA at Bangalore 2014
8 Ellyse Perry Aus 640! 38.86 640 v Eng at Worcester 2015
9 Deandra Dottin WI 620 28.73 650 v NZ at Kingston 2013
10 Alex Blackwell Aus 570 33.29 683 v Ind at Canberra 2008
Selected Others:
Rank Player Team Points Ave Highest Ranking
12 Bismah Maroof Pak 551! 25.29 551 v Ban at Karachi 2015
28 Kycia Knight WI 398* 20.16 404 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2015
31 Nain Abidi Pak 386 19.22 459 v Ire at Dublin 2012
35 H. Matthews WI 366*! 37.25 366 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2015
42 M. Aguilleira WI 323 18.40 526 v SA at St Kitts (WP) 2013
44 Sana Mir Pak 319 15.77 326 v SA at Sharjah 2015
48 Asmavia Iqbal Pak 295 13.72 309 v SA at Sharjah 2015
Bowling
Rank Player Team Points Ave Econ Highest Ranking
1 J. Goswami Ind 765 20.98 3.16 796 v Eng at Chennai 2007
2 A. Mohammed WI 672 17.38 3.22 704 v Aus at Sydney 2014
3 Stafanie Taylor WI 659 18.14 3.08 768 v NZ at Kingston 2013
4 Katherine Brunt Eng 656 23.26 3.37 796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013
5 Ellyse Perry Aus 608 24.08 4.25 698 v Ind at Mumbai 2012
6 Sana Mir Pak 588 23.80 3.41 610 v SA at Sharjah 2015
7 Shibnam Ismail SA 583* 18.40 3.45 595 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
8 Jenny Gunn Eng 582 27.63 3.77 693 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
9 D. van Niekerk SA 579* 16.13 3.24 583 v Ind at Bangalore 2014
10 Shanel Daley WI 568 22.09 3.33 664 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
Selected Others:
Rank Player Team Points Ave Econ Highest Ranking
18 T.Smartt WI 497* 31.00 3.70 524 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
22= Asmavia Iqbal Pak 442 31.74 4.10 458 v SA at Sharjah 2015
Nida Dar Pak 442* 21.09 3.51 463 v Ban at Cox’s Bazar 2014
29 Shakera Selman WI 405* 25.53 3.36 467 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
47 Bismah Maroof Pak 306*! 21.83 3.58 306 v Ban at Karachi 2015
48 Anam Amin Pak 300*! 8.06 2.01 300 v Ban at Karachi 2015
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points Highest Ranking
1 Stafanie Taylor WI 433 560 v NZ at Kingston 2013 2 Ellyse Perry Aus 389! 389 v Eng at Worcester 2015 3 J. Goswami Ind 307! 307 v NZ at Bangalore 2015 4 D. van Niekerk SA 281*/*! 281 v Pak at Sharjah 2015 5 Suzie Bates NZ 255! 255 v Ind at Bangalore 2015