The International Cricket Council (ICC) today launched the official ICC Women’s Team Rankings, which incorporate results in all three formats of the game into one rankings system.
Australia, whom the New Zealand WHITE FERNS will take on this season, is ranked number one following success in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 in India and the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 2014 in Bangladesh. The Southern Stars also lead the ICC Women’s Championship, which is the qualifying tournament for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.
England, whom the WHITE FERNS defeated 2-1 in IWC points games last summer, is ranked second in the 10-team table — 10 points behind Australia with the WHITE FERNS making the top three on 109 points. Chasing the leaders are India (105), West Indies (99), South Africa (92), Pakistan (81), Sri Lanka (74), Bangladesh (57) and Ireland (26).
Further teams will be added to the table as and when they reach the required standard.
Sophie Devine, Hannah Rowe and Rachel Priest at the NZ Post Superstar Cricket Roadshow this week
The launch of ICC Women’s Team Rankings is part of the ICC’s longterm commitment to investing, incentivising, promoting and publicising women’s cricket, which the ICC says has already started to drive substantial increase in public interest and participation, as well as a marked improvement in the standard of the international game.
The innovative new system treats results from Test, ODI and T20I cricket equally. This means there will be rankings points to play for in every international match, while the volume of matches will ensure the table is a credible reflection of overall performance.
The ICC Women’s Team Rankings have been devised by statistician and ICC Cricket Committee member David Kendix, who has applied the same methodology as is used for the men’s rankings.
The rankings table is based on results between three and four years, but with the first two years being weighted at only 50 per cent. Currently, results from October 2012 to September 2014 are weighted at 50 per cent, while results since October 2014 are weighted at 100 per cent.
The annual update of the ICC Women’s Team Rankings, in which the oldest results will be dropped from rankings and the weightings updated, will be carried out on 1 October each year, whereas the annual updates for men’s Test, ODI and T20I team rankings take place in May.
The ICC Women’s Team Rankings points will also be updated at the end of each series.
WHITE FERNS v Sri Lanka
3 Nov* – 1st ODI, Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln
5 Nov* – 2nd ODI, Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln
7 Nov* – 3rd ODI, Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln
10 Nov – 4th ODI, Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln
13 Nov – 5th ODI, Hagley Oval, Christchurch
15 Nov – 1st T20I, Hagley Oval, Christchurch
20 Nov – 2nd T20I, Saxton Oval, Nelson
22 Nov – 3rd T20I, Saxton Oval, Nelson
*Denotes ICC Women’s Championship matches
