Women Cricket: Mooney Pips Athapaththu To Regain Top Spot In Women ODI Batter's Ranking; Sciver-Brunt Tops All-Rounder's Chart

Women's ODI Players Ranking: Australia batter Beth Mooney piped Sri Lankan Chamari Athapaththu to regain the top spot in the women's ODI players ranking released on Tuesday.

Athapaththu's reign at the top of the ODI batters rankings lasted just two weeks as she slipped to third with 758 rating points and Mooney climbed to top with 769 ratings.

Mooney was among the runs in the first two ODIs against England with scores of 81 not out and 33 as Australia regained the Ashes with a win in the second match of the series.

Following the Australian closely is England's Nat Sciver-Brunt, who almost stole victory from the hands of Australia in the second ODI with a stunning 111 not out off 99 balls. Despite her knock going in vain, Sciver-Brunt moved up two spots to No.2 and a career-best rating of 763.

The star all-rounder has also been handy with the ball, picking up two wickets in England's win in the first ODI in Bristol. Her all-round performances help her climb to the top of the all-rounders' rankings in ODIs, once again attaining a career-best rating of 402.

Sciver-Brunt's teammate Heather Knight played the finisher's role to perfection in the first ODI, taking her team home with an unbeaten 75 while batting with the lower order. The England captain has been rewarded with a four-place jump to No.14 in the batters' rankings, where she sits equal with New Zealand's Sophie Devine.

Australia ace all-rounder and ICC Women's Player of the Month for June 2023 Ash Gardner surged to career-best ratings in the list for bowlers' as she climbed four places to No.8 with 631 rating points. She moved two places up to No.5 with 330 rating points in all-rounders list for her brilliant outings with bat and ball in the first two ODIs.

In the T20I rankings update, Sri Lankan stars made considerable gains with victory in the third and final T20I against New Zealand.

Athapaththu smashed a fiery 47-ball 80 not out while chasing 143 and climbed to the ninth spot in the batters' rankings. Her batting partner Harshitha Madavi, with whom she shared a record-breaking unbeaten 143-run stand, rises five spots to No.22.

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Inoka Ranaweera bowled beautifully and finished with figures of 3/20. Her efforts in restricting New Zealand to just 140/9 have reaped benefits as the left-arm veteran spinner climbed six spots to share a joint seventh spot with New Zealand's Lea Tahuhu.