Ashleigh Gardner rises to top of ICC T20I allrounder rankings

Ashleigh Gardner has rose to the top of the allrounders’ ranking in T20Is thanks to her excellent performance during the India tour . In the latest ICC rankings update announced on Tuesday (December 27), she leapfrogged Hayley Matthews, Sophie Devine and Deepti Sharma to become the number number one allrounder in the format.

Gardner scored 115 from three innings at a whopping strike rate of 166.66 including a whirlwind 66 not out off 32 balls. In the series, she also took seven wickets at an average of 18.28 and a strike rate of 15.40. She played a key role in Australia defeating the hosts 4-1 in the five-match T20I series.

Tahlia McGrath, who captained Australia in the absence, continues to be the number one ranked batter in T20Is, while Sophie Ecclestone has 763 rating points as the top-ranked bowler in the format. 

Gardner is also number seven in the batting rankings and there are five Australians in the top ten with Megan Schutt being the only bowler in the top ten. Beth Mooney, who was the top run-getter in the series, is ranked two in the format. Indians Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma are in the top ten with Jemimah Rodrigues poor form pushing her out of the top ranked batters. 

Allrounder Grace Harris jumped 33 places to 61st in the batting rankings. Among bowlers, again Gardner has a moved three places to reach 14th. For India, Deepti Sharma and Renuka Singh Thakur are in the top ten with positions three and six respectively. 

Sharma, who had a good series with the bat, is at 29 in the batting ranking with her teammates Rodrigues at 11 and Harmanpreet Kaur 14. Young Richa Ghosh is at 39 in the batting ranking after her impressive performance in the Australia series. 

One of the biggest movers in the bowling rankings is England’s Freya Davies as she jumped 23 places to 26th in the rankings. At the year end, Alyssa Healy and Ecclestone are the top ranked ODI batters with Ellyse Perry taking the top spot in the allrounder rankings.