Lanning, Kapp and Harris top inaugural rankings lists ahead of season-opening weekend
Official WBBL player rankings launched
The arrival of the second Rebel Women's Big Bash League season also heralds the introduction of the EXTRA® Official WBBL Player Rankings.
It comes as no surprise that Australia skipper and WBBL|01 player of the tournament Meg Lanning will start WBBL|02 at the top of the batting rankings, while South Africa and Sydney Sixers quick Marizanne Kapp sits atop the bowler charts.
Melbourne Renegades recruit Grace Harris, who scored the sole century of WBBL|01, will start the second edition of the tournament on top of the allrounder rankings.
The Rankings, devised by esteemed Bond University Professor Steven Stern – the man who also lends his name to the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method used for recalculating rain-affected run chase targets – with Cricket Australia, separates batters, bowlers and allrounders.
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The system uses performances from both current and past Big Bash matches, weighted on a sliding scale.
WBBL|02 games will carry a full weighting in order to provide the most accurate, up-to-date measure of player performance.
Lanning scored 560 runs – 98 more than her nearest rival – at 56.00 during an outstanding run with the bat in WBBL|01, including five half-centuries.
She sits 14.6 points clear of New Zealand and Sixers batter Sara McGlashan (29.2) who comes in at No.2, while Harris is just 1.4 points off in third.
McGlashan played a crucial role in the Sixers' march to the WBBL|01 final and while she was only the eighth highest run-scorer of the tournament, her 366 runs came at a strike-rate of 124.48.
Harris' 289 runs were scored at the rapid strike rate of 154.54 and while the off-spinning allrounder will line up in Renegades red this summer, fans will long remember the 55-ball 103 she scored for the Brisbane Heat in the early stages of WBBL|01.
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Two English batters – Adelaide Strikers recruit Charlotte Edwards (18.1) and Hobart Hurricanes captain Heather Knight (16.6) – round out the top five.
Right-armer Kapp took just 17 wickets in WBBL|01, but her economy rate of 4.28 –the competition's best – secures her spot on top of the bowling charts.
She sits a whopping 25.4 points clear of No.2 ranked Heat quick Holly Ferling (13.5), who is followed by Thunder allrounder Nicola Carey (12.7).
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Stars leg-spinner Kristen Beams and WBBL|01 leading wicket taker Rene Farrell (Thunder) round out the top five on 12.6 points apiece.
Professor Stern formulated the BBL Official Rankings system for bigbash.com.au with Cricket Australia in the build-up to the BBL|05 season, with the concept largely based around the comparative impacts of each individual player in a match.
Throughout WBBL|02, bigbash.com.au will reveal regular updates for the top 10 batters and bowlers, and the top five allrounders.
Further information on how the rankings system works here