World Cup fever fuels competition for top spot in player rankings

Ahead of the Womens T20 World Cup 2024 cricketers eye to reach the top of the ICC Womens T20I Player Rankings The tournament will kick off on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates with 10 countries battling it out to be crowned world championsThe final match of the prestigious tournament will take place on October 20While full focus will be on powering their teams to glory some players will also have their eyes on topping the ICC batting bowling and allrounder rankings come the end of the monthJust 22 points currently separate the top five batters with West Indies Hayley Matthews leading the charge to become the first nonAustralian in three years to reach the summitShe will have to get past Australias Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath to do so with Mooney currently leading the way on 757 points nine ahead of her compatriot and former No1 McGrathMooney showed why she is the one to beat with an impressive 30ball halfcentury in Australias warmup match against England last weekMatthews is a further two points behind with a careerhigh 746 with Indias Smriti Mandhana also in contention on 743 while Laura Wolvaardt is not far behind on 735Big performances from any of the top five could shake up the individual standings with so little to choose between each playerThere are six countries represented in the top ten with Sri Lankas Chamari Athapaththu just nine points off the 700point barrier while New Zealand pair Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine are ninth and tenth respectivelyAlso ReadWomens T20 WC Allround performances help India beat South Africa in warmupBangladesh captain Nigar Sultana makes it seven countries in the top 13 batters she is the first female Bangladesh batter to accrue over 600 pointsThe bowling rankings are similarly hotly contested with just 12 points between first and fourth Englands Sophie Ecclestone leads the way with 757 points but she is just two ahead of Indias Deepti SharmaThe top four are all spinners with Pakistans Sadia Iqbal on 750 points and Englands Sarah Glenn a further five back on 745Indeed 13 of the top 15 ranked bowlers are spinners with Renuka Singh Thakur and Lauren Bell the only seamers amongst that group Thakur is fifth with 722 points 35 off the summitBell is 11th on 676 points and is one of four England bowlers in the top 15 alongside Ecclestone Glenn and 13thplaced Charlie DeanOnly Australia has more bowlers in the top 20 with five Ash Gardner leads the way for the defending champions in ninth place while Georgia Warehams form has helped her climb six places into 14thThere are eight nations represented in the top 20 Sri Lankas Inoshi Fernando leads those looking to break the 700 mark this month with 691 points in seventh while Bangladeshs Rabeya Khan is 10th with 677The allrounder rankings see West Indies Hayley Matthews boast a comfortable 109point lead over Australias Ash Gardner thanks to her total of 524The top six allrounders all hail from different nations with Indias Deepti Sharma and New Zealands Amelia Kerr both just below the 400point thresholdSri Lankan Chamari Athapaththu is the only other allrounder above 300 with 330 while Pakistans Nida Dar rounds out a top six demonstrative of the diverse strength with bat and ball set to be on show at the upcoming Womens T20 World Cup 2024With agency inputs