Rankings boost for SL ahead of T20 WC

Sri Lanka have received a massive boost ahead of this year's ICC Women's T20 World Cup with a group of their best white-ball players achieving career-best ratings on the latest ICC Women's ODI Player Rankings.

The rankings rise comes on the back of an emphatic performance by Sri Lanka during the third match of their recent ODI series against Ireland, a contest that saw the island nation register a comprehensive eight-wicket triumph in Belfast.

It was inspirational Skipper Chamari Atapattu who dominated that match with a well-compiled 48 with the bat and a three-wicket haul with the ball, helping the Sri Lanka all-rounder rise all three ranking categories.

Atapattu gained six rating points to retain her position in fourth and close in on the No.1 ranked ODI batter in the world Nat Sciver-Brunt, while teammate Harshitha Samarawickrama improved 15 places to rise to 29th spot and obtained a new career-best mark of her own following a score of 48 not out against Ireland.

Meanwhile, veteran seamer Achini Kulasuriya also gained a new career-best rating following her three-wicket haul against Ireland, with the right-armer moving up eight places to 36th on the updated list for ODI bowlers.

Atapattu gains eight places to move to 51st on this same list while Sri Lanka teammates Inoshi Fernando (equal 86th) and Sachini Nisansala (equal 90th) are also rewarded as they climb from outside the top 100 following good efforts with the ball at the end of the Ireland tour.

The gains didn't finish there for Sri Lanka's stars, with Atapattu (up two places to seventh) and Kavisha Dilhari (up one spot to 16th) both making ground on the latest list for ODI all-rounders.

While Ireland lost the final match against Sri Lanka, they did manage to claim the series 2-1 and were buoyed by the efforts of Player-of-the-Series Arlene Kelly.

Kelly scored 49 runs and claimed five wickets across the three 50-over contests, gaining 12 places on the rankings for ODI batters to move to 86th overall as a result. (ICC)