Sports Bulletin Report
Dubai (UAE):-Ireland Women’s batter, Gaby Lewis, has risen six places to a career-best number 27 in the latest MRF Tyres ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings. The move comes after Ireland’s dominant, outbound tour success against the Netherlands, where her side returned three emphatic wins to end the series unbeaten.
The visitors made a strong showing with the bat in hand, Lewis making scores of 92 from 98 deliveries and 25 from 32 as she helped her side to victory by eight and five wickets respectively in the first and last matches of the series. Thanks to these dazzling performances at the crease, she now celebrates her career-best ratings points tally of 494.
Leah Paul and captain Laura Delany, returned maiden ODI centuries in the second fixture of the series, becoming the first pair to score hundreds in the same innings for Ireland Women. In that team-record-tumbling match, Ireland set their highest women’s team total in ODIs of 337 for eight. The 236-run, third-wicket partnership between the pair was also the highest of any wicket in Irish women’s cricket, with Paul’s 137 from 138 deliveries the highest individual score in Ireland Women’s ODIs. If that wasn’t enough, their eventual, 210-run triumph was the team’s highest winning margin by runs in women’s ODIs.
The pair make strong gains in the batters’ rankings, Delany rising 15 spots to a career-best 34th place with 455 rating points, while Paul shoots up 25 slots to 56th on 346 points. In addition, they rise to 66th and 71st respectively in the bowlers’ rankings with 280 and 266 points and in the allrounders list, Delany once again leads the charge, advancing 15 positions to 28th place, with Paul following with her own 25-place jump to share 36th spot with India’s Shikha Pandey.
The final notable Irish team mention goes to Cara Murray, whose maiden five-wicket-haul (five for 39) in the same record-breaking match, saw her rise by 12 spaces to 60th in the bowlers’ rankings, with 321 rating points.
While it was a losing series for the Netherlands, there were some individual gains to celebrate. Captain Babette de Leede leads the rankings advancements with a 91-slot catapult to number 120 in the batters’ rankings with 175 ratings points, thanks to her 76 from 98 balls in the series opener. Iris Zwilling advances from 144th place to 81st for bowlers and Frederique Overdijk was the all-round star with two unbeaten scores of 47 (88) and 38 (65) in the first and last matches and helpful contributions with the ball in hand. She rises 18 places to 97th spot in the batters’ rankings, while also moving 58 spots up to 116th place in the bowlers’ rankings and 61 places to number 93 in the all-rounders list.
