Laura Wolvaardt breaks away to World No 1 ODI ranking, displaces Smriti Mandhana; Jemimah also gains big
South African captain Laura Wolvaardt was a class apart for the Proteas in the recently concluded Women's World Cup, smashing a century in both the semi-final and the final of the tournament. Wolvaardt achieved the highest aggregate for a player in one edition of the World Cup, scoring 571 runs.
India's Smriti Mandhana is no longer the top-ranked batter in ICC Women's ODI rankings, with South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt displacing her after a smashing end to the recently concluded World Cup. Wolvaardt ended the tournament with 571 runs in nine innings, the highest aggregate for a player in a single Women's World Cup edition, while smashing a century in each of the semi-final and the final and hence, gained two spots to leapfrog Mandhana, who returned scores of 45 and 24 in the knockout games.
Mandhana slipped just one spot, and so did Ash Gardner, the Australian all-rounder, who missed out on a big score in the semi-final against India. In the top 10, Ellyse Perry and Jemimah Rodrigues were the other big gainers as the veteran Australian all-rounder moved up by three spots to be in joint-7th place after scoring 77 in the semi-final against India. While India's new No 3 found herself climbing nine spots to No 10 on the rankings after a scintillating knock of 127*, taking India to the final.
Rodrigues didn't have the tournament prior she'd hoped for, scoring just one half-century in six innings, while also being dropped from the side at the same time. However, the 25-year-old got the opportunity to perform at No 3 again and she delivered and how, playing the innings of her lifetime.
The next in the list of big gainers were Australian opener Phoebe Litchfield and Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who both sparkled in the semis for their respective sides. While centurion Litchfield moved up by 13 spots to No 13, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur rose by four spots to No 14, after scoring a run-a-ball 89 in the 339-run chase in the semi-final.
Deepti Sharma (21st) and Richa Ghosh (30th) were the other Indian batters in the top 30, with both rising by three and four spots, respectively. Indian opener Shafali Verma, who was called in as a replacement ahead of the knockouts, ended up winning the Player of the Final, scoring 87 with the bat and also taking a couple of wickets, found herself in joint-74th spot with a rise of 24 positions.