Five Aussies named in ICC teams of the year

Five Australians including injured Southern Stars skipper Meg Lanning have been included in the International Cricket Council’s women’s ODI and T20I teams of the year.

Lanning, who took no part in the recent Women’s Ashes after undergoing shoulder surgery, had performed strongly enough in the early stages of the voting period to cement her play in the ICC’s ODI team of the year, where she was joined by allrounder Ellyse Perry.

Opener Beth Mooney, leg-spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington and seamer Megan Schutt all claimed places in the T20I team of the year, with Australia and England boasting the most representatives across the two teams.

Performances between September 21, 2016, and the most recent women’s international on November 21 were taken into account when selecting the teams.

During that period, Lanning averaged 74.45 in one-dayers and scored three centuries and four half-centuries, while Perry averaged 82.27 – with an incredible 11 fifties from 17 innings - and collected 22 wickets.

Mooney was selected in the T20 side after her outstanding performances during the Commonwealth Bank Women’s Ashes, where she smashed 86 and an unbeaten 117.

Wellington took nine wickets in just five T20 appearances, including 4-16 against New Zealand at Adelaide Oval in February, while Schutt’s seven included a four-wicket haul at North Sydney Oval that ensured the Ashes remained in Australian hands.

England’s World Cup winning captain Heather Knight was named skipper of the ODI team of the year, alongside three teammates in wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor, left-arm spinner Alex Hartley and opener Tammy Beaumont.

Top-ranked T20I batter Stefanie Taylor, who skippers the West Indies, was named captain of the ICC’s T20 side, which featured three players from the Caribbean: Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin joining Taylor in the side.

India left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht is the only player to feature in both the ODI and T20I teams, having taken 34 wickets in 19 ODIs and 11 wickets in seven T20Is.

The two teams were selected by a panel comprising representatives from seven countries including former Australia players Mel Jones and Lisa Sthalekar and England great Charlotte Edwards.

Of the 21 players included across the two teams, 17 of those are contracted to teams in this year’s Rebel WBBL tournament.

The naming of the ICC’s teams of the year follows the earlier announcement of the organisation’s annual awards, which saw Ellyse Perry receive the inaugural Rachael Heyhoe Flint award for Women’s Cricketer of the Year, and Beth Mooney take out both the T20I Player of the Year and Emerging Cricketer categories.

ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year:

1. Tammy Beaumont (England)
2. Meg Lanning (Australia)
3. Mithali Raj (India)
4. Amy Satterthwaite (New Zealand)
5. Ellyse Perry (Australia)
6. Heather Knight (captain) (England)
7. Sarah Taylor (wicketkeeper) (England)
8. Dane van Niekerk (South Africa)
9. Marizanne Kapp (South Africa)
10. Ekta Bisht (India)
11. Alex Hartley (England)

ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year:

1. Beth Mooney (wicketkeeper) (Australia)
2. Danni Wyatt (England)
3. Harmanpreet Kaur (India)
4. Stafanie Taylor (captain) (Windies)
5. Sophie Devine (New Zealand)
6. Deandra Dottin (Windies)
7. Hayley Matthews (Windies)
8. Megan Schutt (Australia)
9. Amanda-Jade Wellington (Australia)
10. Lea Tahuhu (New Zealand)
11. Ekta Bisht (India)

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