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Claire Taylor of England, India captain Jhulan Goswami and Australia's Lisa Sthalekar are on top of the world in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Women's Rankings, which were launched in Mumbai on Thursday.
Thirty-three-year-old Taylor spearheads a strong field of six England batters in the top 20 while fast bowler Jhulan leads the bowlers' chart and Sthalekar is just ahead of her team-mate Shelley Nitschke in the all-rounders' listing.
The rankings have been introduced as part of the ICC's continued promotion of women's cricket. They will initially apply to ODI cricket only and will help identify where the leading players stand in women's international cricket to add further competition and context to their achievements.
"Women's cricket is definitely on the rise and the launch of the ODI rankings is just an indication of this. Since ICC took over the women's game in 2005 the number of countries playing women's cricket has quadrupled," said former South Africa wicket-keeper-batsman Richardson, the International Cricket Council's manager for cricket operations.
"The women's ODI rankings are exactly similar to the men's rankings. The next year is an important one for the women's game, with the ICC World Cup scheduled in Australia in March followed by the T20 Women's World Cup, which is to be held concurrently with the men's T20 World Cup," he said.
"The T20 semi-finals and final of both events are scheduled at the same venue and same day. The ICC centenary celebrations are being held in 2009 and women's cricket forms an important part of the celebrations," Richardson added.
Jhulan, who will lead India to Australia shortly for a series of one-day internationals preceded by a T20 international, said she was greatly honoured to be the world's No 1 bowler as per the rankings list released on Thursday.
She said the Indian men's team's fine display Down Under earlier this year, and the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team's triangular series 2-0 win over Australia in the best-of-three finals, will inspire her team on the upcoming tour.
"The performance of the men's team in Australia would inspire us to do well in Australia. I am confident we can beat Australia in Australia," said Jhulan, the ICC's Woman Cricketer of 2007, about the forthcoming ODI series against the 2005 women's World Cup winners. The ICC Woman Cricketer of 2008, Claire Taylor, also welcomed the introduction of the official global rankings for women, saying the entire lot of women cricketers were "looking forward to this day".
Both Jhulan and Claire said it would be wonderful if cricket made it to the Olympic Games.
"We definitely would like to play in the Olympics, which is the world's biggest sporting event," Jhulan said.
"We will love to play in the Olympics. It would put a breath of fresh air into our game," Claire said.
The ICC's Executive Board had discussed the possibility of cricket being part of a future Olympic Games in a two-day meeting earlier this week.
It was agreed that the ICC management continue research on the matter and present to the Board at a later date.
If cricket wished to be part of the 2020 Olympic Games then it would have to make an application to the International Olympic Committee before 2013, according to the ICC.
Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Rankings (as of 16 October)
Batters
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 Claire Taylor Eng 804 39.13 820 v NZ at Blackpool 2007
2 Mithali Raj Ind 728 47.93 827 v Aus at Baroda Vadodar 2004
3 Lisa Sthalekar Aus 722 35.47 783 v NZ at Darwin 2007
4 Sarah Taylor Eng 699* 40.11 706 v Ind at Taunton 2008
5 C.M.Edwards Eng 658 37.05 694 v SA at Pretoria 2005
6 Nicola Browne NZ 653! 30.21 653 v Aus at Lincoln 2008
7 Karen Rolton Aus 620 49.54 867 v Ind at Vapi 2004
8 Alex Blackwell Aus 597! 30.46 597 v NZ at Lincoln 2008
9 S.Nitschke Aus 573*! 25.85 573 v NZ at Lincoln 2008
10 Sara McGlashen NZ 568 23.09 584 v Eng at Derby 2007
11 Haidee Tiffen NZ 557 29.50 764 v Ind at Lincoln 2006
12 Aimee Mason NZ 549 22.20 616 v Eng at Blackpool 2007
13 Jaya Sharma Ind 516 31.92 686 v Aus at Vapi 2004
14 Lydia Greenway Eng 489 22.55 512 v Aus at Sydney 2008
15 Anjum Chopra Ind 478 34.71 749 v Aus at Adelaide 2006
16 Jenny Gunn Eng 472 22.37 543 v Aus at Melbourne 2008
17= Dedunu Silva SL 468* 20.14 479 v Ind at Kurunegala 2008
Caroline Atkins Eng 468* 28.46 476 v Ind at Taunton 2008
19 Cri-Zelda Brits SA 466* 29.24 531 v NET at Stellenbosch 2008
20 Caitriona Beggs Ire 460 24.83 551 v NET at Dublin 2006
Bowlers
Rank Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 Jhulan Goswami Ind 741 21.06 797 v Eng at Chennai 2007
2 Isa Guha Eng 720 18.43 741 v Ind at Taunton 2008
3 S.Nitschke Aus 675*! 22.27 675 v NZ at Lincoln 2008
4 Holly Colvin Eng 619* 19.90 632 v Ind at Arundel 2008
5 Jenny Gunn Eng 593 31.22 673 v Aus at Melbourne 2008
6 Emma Sampson Aus 548*! 25.17 548 v NZ at Lincoln 2008
7 Aimee Mason NZ 547 32.90 586 v Aus at Darwin 2007
8 Nicola Browne NZ 546 33.75 648 v Eng at Shenley 2007
9= Lisa Sthalekar Aus 545 29.10 602 v NZ at Brisbane 2006
Katherine Brunt Eng 545* 26.33 560 v Ind at Taunton 2008
11 Kirsten Pike Aus 540* 22.56 567 v NZ at Lincoln 2008
12 Rumeli Dhar Ind 534* 31.50 610 v SL at Dambulla 2008
13 Amita Sharma Ind 523 29.12 650 v Pak at Karachi 2005
14 Neetu David Ind 506 16.34 794 v WI at Pretoria 2005
15 Nicky Shaw Eng 502* 32.93 517 v Ind at Taunton 2008
16 Alicia Smith SA 494* 22.10 538 v Ire at Crowthorne 2008
17 Sajida Shah Pak 491* 26.48 499 v NET at Stellenbosch 2008
18= Ashlyn Kilowan SA 483*! 20.16 483 v Eng at Shenley 2008
Sarah Andrews Aus 483*! 21.62 483 v NZ at Lincoln 2008
20 Sophie Devine NZ 468*! 37.42 468 v Aus at Lincoln 2008
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points HS Rating
1 Lisa Sthalekar Aus 393 466 v Eng at Chennai 2007
2 S.Nitschke Aus 387*/*! 387 v NZ at Lincoln 2008
3 Nicola Browne NZ 357 383 v Eng at Lincoln 2008
4 Aimee Mason NZ 300 338 v Eng at Blackpool 2007
5 Jenny Gunn Eng 280 364 v Aus at Melbourne 2008