Australia women's team consolidate top position in ODIs, T20Is

DUBAI: In the annual International Cricket Council (ICC) update carried out on Saturday, Australia women's team have established a record margin at the top of the ODI Team Rankings while also increasing their lead in the T20I Team Rankings.

ICC also said there is no change of positions in the ODI rankings in the latest update, which expunges results from the 2018-19 season, weights the 2019-20 and 2020-2021 seasons at 50 per cent and the 2021-22 season matches at 100 per cent.

Australia have stretched their lead over second spot holders South Africa from 48 to 51 rating points in the ODI rankings, which is the biggest lead ever by any international men's or women's side in any form of the game, while their lead over second-placed T20I team England has increased from 14 to 18 rating points.

Australia have gained three rating points and sit comfortably at 170 in ODIs, with South Africa (119), England (116), India (104) and New Zealand (101) other teams holding three-figure rating points.

In T20Is, Australia are on 299 rating points, stretching their lead over second-placed England (281) from 14 to 18 rating points. New Zealand (271) and India (266) maintain their third and fourth positions, while South Africa have overtaken the West Indies to fifth position with 246 rating points.

In the T20I matches played in last one year, Australia are undefeated in 14 matches, with ten wins against their name and four ending without a result. Also, they have swept aside India, England, Pakistan and Ireland in a tri-series and ended on a high by bagging gold in the women's T20 cricket event of the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham.

In ODIs too, Australia have enjoyed an unbeaten record in the last 12 months. Their 100% win record in 12 games in that period includes a dominating Women's ODI World Cup win in New Zealand earlier this year.

The gap between the top two might be massive but the fight for the second and third spot is heating up with only three points separating South Africa in second place from England, who are in third.

In other notable movements, Tanzania and Nepal have progressed two slots each to reach 15th and 16th positions, respectively, Namibia have moved up from 21st to 17th and Hong Kong from 24th to 20th.

Jersey (up from 28th to 22nd in a 14-point increase), Italy (up from 38th to 28th) and Mozambique (up from 45th to 33rd) are some of the other big movers in the update.

Meanwhile, the number of ranked teams has fallen from 60 to 48 with eight teams not having played at all over the past three years and four others not meeting the requirement of six matches.

China, Fiji, Japan, Mali, Myanmar, Samoa, South Korea and Vanuatu have not played during this period while Indonesia, Mexico, Norway and Papua New Guinea (PNG) have played less than six matches. IANS

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