Chamari Athapaththu emulates Sanath Jayasuriya, becomes first Sri Lankan women’s cricketer to achieve the feat

Sri Lanka women’s cricket team captain Chamari Athapaththu has become the first player from her country to top the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings following a 2-1 series win over New Zealand in the ICC Women’s Championship. The left-handed opening batsman emulated Sanath Jayasuriya as the only Sri Lankan player to top the ODI batting rankings for men for 181 days between September 2002 and May 2003.

Athapaththu’s two centuries in three matches has lifted her six places, surpassing Harmanpreet Kaur, Meg Lanning and Laura Wolvaardt and displacing Australia’s Beth Mooney, who had topped the batting charts since May 10. .

Athapaththu won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his 108 not out off 83 balls in the first match and 140 not out off 80 balls in the last match. She was also named the Player of the Series, making a rapid progress from her previous career best ranking of seventh.

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Chamari Athapaththu became the first Sri Lankan woman cricketer to be ranked No. 1 in the ICC ODI Batsman Rankings.#crickettwitter pic.twitter.com/jFNLc7qXKb

– Women’s Cricket (@infemalecricket) 4 July 2023

Team India captain Harmanpreet Kaur has slipped to the sixth position with 716 points, while vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has also slipped a place to be at the 7th position with 714 points.

Only two other Sri Lankan players have reached the number one position in the women’s rankings, both in 2014 – left-arm seam bowler Udeshika Prabodhani (T20I bowling) and Shashikala Siriwardene (T20I all-rounder).

Athapaththu, who has scored all her country’s top 10 individual scores in women’s ODIs, is currently the highest scorer in ODIs by a Sri Lankan woman with 758 rating points. The next best is only 587, held by Dedunu Silva, who also has the next highest ranking, reaching No. 11 in April 2010. Other Sri Lankans to move up are Kavisha Dilhari (up 19 places to 37th among batsmen) and Prabodhini (up 14 places). 32nd among bowlers).

Meanwhile, New Zealand captain Sophie Devine has moved up six places to 13th position after her match-winning 137 in the second ODI of the series at Galle. In the latest rankings update, which also takes into account performances in the ICC Women’s Championship series in the Caribbean, which saw the West Indies win 2-0 over Ireland, Ireland opener Gabby Lewis after an unbeaten 95 in the final match It has moved up five places to reach the 21st position.

Shamilia Cornell (up four places to joint 24th) and Afi Fletcher (up 14 places to 32nd) have advanced in the bowlers’ list for the West Indies.

In the T20I rankings, Sophie Dunkley (up four places to 16th) and Amy Jones (up one place to 25th) have progressed in the batting rankings after the first match of the England-New Zealand series, while Sarah Glenn (up one place to third) Par) ) and Jess Jonassen (up four places to 18th) have moved up in the bowling rankings.