Harshitha Samarawickrama, Gaby Lewis attain career-high rankings in women's T20I

Dubai, Aug 20
Sri Lanka’s Harshitha Samarawickrama and Ireland’s Gaby Lewis have achieved career-high positions in the ICC Women’s T20I rankings following their impressive performances in the recently concluded T20I series in Dublin, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Samarawickrama, who played a crucial knock of 65 off 44 balls in the second T20I, moved up three spots to reach 13th position in the T20I rankings. On the other hand, Lewis’ stunning match-winning 119 off 75 balls, which included 17 boundaries and two sixes, helped her jump four places to 21st position, matching her career-best ranking from July 2022.

The latest rankings update, announced on Tuesday, considers performances from the second T20I as well as the first two matches of the ongoing ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) ODI series between Sri Lanka and Ireland. Ireland, who have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, saw several players make significant progress in the rankings.

Orla Prendergast, Ireland’s top run-scorer with 131 runs in the series so far, climbed nine places to secure a career-best 28th position in the ODI batting rankings. Leah Paul also made strides, moving up four slots to 29th, while Amy Hunter is now joint-34th after advancing 10 positions.

For Sri Lanka, despite Chamari Athapaththu slipping behind India’s Smriti Mandhana to fourth in the ODI batting rankings, there were notable gains for others. Nilakshika de Silva (up three places to 32nd), Samarawickrama (up eight places to 44th), and Kavisha Dilhari (up four places to 50th) all improved their standings.

In the bowling rankings, Ireland’s Arlene Kelly made a notable leap, moving up three places to 27th after taking five wickets in two matches. Sri Lanka’s Dilhari, who took six wickets in the series, moved up five slots to reach joint-30th position. Other notable improvements include Achini Kulasuriya (up 13 places to 44th) and Ireland’s Jane Maguire (up five places to 71st).