Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana saw her name go up by a couple of places in the ICC rankings for women batters in ODIs without even featuring in a game for more than a month in the format. The Australia-South Africa ODI series had a positive effect on Mandhana's ratings in the top 10 given the Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt had a forgettable time in three matches scoring just seven runs including a duck.
Wolvaardt dropped to 6th place and Mandhana rose to 4th place as both the opening batters swapped positions in the latest ICC rankings for women in the 50-over format. The other major changes in the batting list saw Australian all-rounder Ash Gardner drop by three spots to 22nd position after scoring 35 and 1 in the last two ODIs against South Africa while Tahlia McGrath on the other hand, moved up by fourth place to 30th position following her scores of 22 and 44* in the last two games.
Among bowlers, there was a lot of movement in the top 10 itself with the South African superstar Marizanne Kapp being the biggest gainer. The 34-year-old moved up seven places to the No.2 spot leaving the rest of the players's spots fluctuating. Kapp's compatriot Ayabonga Khaka dropped by three places to joint-eighth position tied with Jess Jonassen, who also was down by three spots.
Gardner too suffered a three-place jolt to be in seventh position. Three players moving down meant the likes of Kate Cross and Hayley Matthews rose by two spots each to 5th and 6th positions respectively.
While the Australian and South African teams will be involved in a Test match this week at Perth's WACA, the rest of the players have started their preparation for the 2024 edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) which kicks off on February 23 in Bengaluru.
