New Zealand and England aiming for ICC Women’s Championship advances

New Zealand will host England in the final pairing of round two of the ICC Women’s Championship in a three-ODI series that starts in Mount Maunganui on Wednesday, as both sides bid to gain some ground on early pace-setter Australia.

In all, the series will feature three One-Day Internationals as part of the ICC Women’s Championship, followed by three Twenty20 Internationals and two further ODIs. In the matches that count towards the ICC Women’s Championship, a 3-0 series win would vault fifth-placed England into second, while the White Ferns, currently scoreless in the Championship table to date, has a chance to overtake India and Sri Lanka.

In the first round against India last August, England secured five out of a possible six points, after winning the first two ODIs in Scarborough.

England women’s captain, Charlotte Edwards, said: “The new ICC Women’s Championship (WC) is already proving to be a superb initiative for the international women’s game. Every ODI series that we now play is equally important, carrying that extra level of significance by counting towards qualification for the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup in England. This naturally stimulates excitement and interest across the game.

“It feels like a very long time since we played our first round of matches in the ICC WC against India last summer, so we can’t wait to get to New Zealand and hopefully hit the ground running when the first ODI gets underway on February 11th.”

England captain Charlotte Edwards is the highest-ranked batter on either side in the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Batters, and lies just four points adrift of Australia’s Meg Lanning, who tops the rankings on 727 points. Wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor is a further place, and 16 points, adrift in third position. The visitor also has two further batters inside the top 20 heading into the series, Lydia Greenway (12th) and Heather Knight (15th).

Host New Zealand, who lost its opening round clash in St. Kitts to West Indies 3-0 back in September, is likely to call upon its highest-ranked batter, seventh-placed skipper Suzie Bates, who is 16 points behind West Indies’ Stafanie Taylor.
Bates was named Player of the Tournament at the ICC Women’s World Cup India 2013, striking 407 runs, including three half-centuries and one ton to lead her side to fourth place and also be named captain of the team of the tournament. Amy Satterthwaite is the next highest-ranked New Zealand batter in 16th position, three points behind Knight, while Sophie Devine is one ranking place outside the top 20.
In the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for Bowlers, second-placed England bowler Jenny Gunn has the chance to close the gap on top-ranked West Indies’ bowler Stafanie Taylor, which currently stands at 18 points.

Medium-pacer Gunn is joined in the top 10 by her team-mate Katherine Brunt (fifth place), while the host’s top-ranked bowler is left-armer Morna Nielsen (17th).

West Indies all-rounder Taylor, who was adjudged Player of the Tournament at the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2011, is also in pole position in the Reliance ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings for All-roundersand holds a commanding 184-point lead over second placed Australian Ellyse Perry.

The three ODI matches will take place at Mt. Maunganui on 11, 13 and 15 February as part of the seven-round ICC Women’s Championship, which is a qualifying tournament for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.

Squads

**New Zealand (from):**Suzie Bates (captain), Erin Birmingham, Kate Broadmore, Sophie Devine, Georgia Guy, Holly Huddleston, Sara McGlashan, Morna Nielsen, Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Hannah Rowe, Amy Satterthwaite, Lea Tahuhu

**England (from):**Charlotte Edwards (captain), Katherine Brunt, Kathryn Cross, Lydia Greenway, Rebecca Grundy, Jenny Gunn, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Heather Knight, Laura Marsh, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Taylor (wicketkeeper), Lauren Winfield, Danielle Wyatt

Forthcoming Fixtures

New Zealand v England
11 Feb – First ODI, Mount Maunganui
13 Feb – Second ODI, Mount Maunganui
15 Feb – Third ODI, Mount Maunganui

Points table:

Note – two points for a win, no point for a loss and one point for a no-result
Background to the ICC Women’s Championship:

The ICC Women's Championship is being contested by the following eight teams who were seeded according to their rankings following the ICC Women’s World Cup India 2013:

1. Australia  
   

2. West Indies  
   

3. England  
   

4. New Zealand  
   

5. Sri Lanka  
   

6. South Africa  
   

7. India  
   

8. Pakistan  
   

Following the completion of the round-robin matches, the final standings of the points table will represent each team’s final event ranking, and the top four teams will automatically qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017. The bottom four teams will have a second chance to progress to the pinnacle event of women’s cricket through the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier.

Reliance ICC Women’s Player Rankings on ODIs (as on 8 February ahead of New Zealand-England series):
Batting

Rank Player Team Points Avge Highest Ranking
1 Meg Lanning Aus 727*! 45.64 727 v WI at Bowral 2014
2 C. Edwards Eng 723! 38.07 723 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
3 Sarah Taylor Eng 707 39.71 803 v Aus at Chelmsford 2009
4 Mithali Raj Ind 680 48.88 839 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004
5 H. Kaur Ind 678*! 36.38 678 v SA at Bangalore 2014
6 Stafanie Taylor WI 675 43.14 765 v Ind at St Kitts (WP) 2012
7 Suzie Bates NZ 651 37.20 734 v WI at Kingston 2013
8 Deandra Dottin WI 594 26.98 650 v NZ at Kingston 2013
9 Jessica Cameron Aus 580 37.63 660 v Pak at Brisbane 2014
10 Alex Blackwell Aus 561 33.16 683 v Ind at Canberra 2008
Selected Rankings:

Rank Player Team Points Avge Highest Ranking
12 Lydia Greenway Eng 557 30.29 664 v NZ at Lincoln 2012
15 Heather Knight Eng 527 29.41 537 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
16 A. Satterthwaite NZ 524 27.49 653 v Aus at Sydney 2012
21 Sophie Devine NZ 470 23.23 473 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2014
23 Sara McGlashan NZ 428 22.63 573 v Eng at Derby 2007
29 Rachel Priest NZ 391*! 24.15 391 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2014
32 Katie Perkins NZ 381* 28.87 422 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2014
44 Jenny Gunn Eng 335 20.69 522 v Aus at Melbourne 2008
45 Natalie Sciver Eng 330*! 43.25 330 v Ind at Scarborough 2014

Bowling
Rank Player Team Points Average Economy Highest Ranking
1 Stafanie Taylor WI 711 17.44 3.04 768 v NZ at Kingston 2013
2 Jenny Gunn Eng 693! 27.00 3.73 693 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
3 Jhulan Goswami Ind 676 21.05 3.19 796 v Eng at Chennai 2007
4 A. Mohammed WI 655 17.66 3.28 704 v Aus at Sydney 2014
5 Katherine Brunt Eng 653 21.52 3.29 796 v Ind at Mumbai 2013
6 Shanel Daley WI 616 22.09 3.33 664 v NZ at St Kitts (WP) 2014
7 Sana Mir Pak 590 23.84 3.46 598 v Aus at Brisbane 2014
8 D. van Niekerk SA 578* 15.48 3.27 583 v Ind at Bangalore 2014
9 Erin Osborne Aus 564 25.82 3.98 581 v Eng at Melbourne 2014
10 Shibnam Ismail SA 560* 18.61 3.49 595 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014

Selected Rankings:
15 Danielle Hazell Eng 516* 33.34 3.93 517 v Ind at Scarborough 2014
17 Morna Nielsen NZ 498*! 26.03 3.66 498 v WI at St Kitts (WP) 2014
23 Sian Ruck NZ 447* 32.75 3.68 538 v WI at Kingston 2013
28 Nicola Browne NZ 434 34.14 3.94 663 v Eng at Derby 2011
45 Sophie Devine NZ 294 40.43 4.40 510 v Ind at Sydney 2009
46 Suzie Bates NZ 288 30.22 5.17 294 v WI at Lincoln 2014

All-rounders

Rank Player Team Points Highest Ranking
1 Stafanie Taylor WI 480 560 v NZ at Kingston 2013
2 Ellyse Perry Aus 296! 296 v WI at Bowral 2014
3 Marizanne Kapp SA 269*/* 273 v Ind at Bangalore 2014
4 D. van Niekerk SA 258*/*! 258 v Ind at Bangalore 2014
5 J. Goswami Ind 233 245 v Aus at Ahmedabad 2012