Laura Wolvaardt Reclaims No. 1 Spot in ICC Women's ODI Batting Rankings
The South Africa captain begins her ninth stint at the top of the ODI batting rankings, replacing India’s Smriti Mandhana, while Deepti Sharma and Harmanpreet Kaur also make significant gains. South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt has reclaimed the №1 position in the latest ICC Women’s ODI batting rankings, displacing India skipper Smriti Mandhana following the latter’s modest returns in the opening two matches of the home ODI series against Zimbabwe. Wolvaardt returns to the summit for the first time since November 2025, marking her ninth separate stint as the world’s top-ranked ODI batter. She first reached the №1 position in March 2022 and has continued to establish herself among the leading batters in women’s international cricket. Mandhana, meanwhile, has slipped to second place after scoring 32 and registering a duck in the first two ODIs against Zimbabwe in Vadodara. Despite Mandhana’s drop, several of her India team-mates have made notable progress in the latest rankings update,...