Smith Soars in Rankings

England bowlers occupy four of the top seven slots; Hayley Matthews is back as No. 1 all-rounder in the format

England’s left-arm spinner Linsey Smith has risen 38 slots to take a career-best second position in the ICC Women’s T20I Bowling Rankings after helping her side beat New Zealand 2-1 in a home series with less than three weeks to go for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026.

Smith finished with six wickets in the three matches to be named Player of the Series against the reigning world champions in the format, her best being a haul of three for 25 in the second T20I in Canterbury. Smith overtook fellow left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, who is down to third place, and one step ahead of Lauren Bell, who sat out the final T20I after claiming three wickets in the first two matches.

England’s stand-in captain for the series, Charlie Dean, has consolidated her seventh position with five wickets in the series as four England bowlers are now in the top seven. In all, there are eight spinners in the top 10 with only Bell and Australia’s Annabel Sutherland the seam bowlers in there.

New Zealand’s left-arm seam bowler Bree Illing continues the fine start to her career, moving up 12 slots to 45th position with four wickets in the series while spinner Nensi Patel has gained 34 slots to reach joint-71st with three wickets in the series.

In the ICC Women’s T20I Batting Rankings, former New Zealand captain Sophie Devine, who struck knocks of 45 and 87 in the first two matches and finished with a series-topping aggregate of 132 runs, is back in the top 10 for the first time in two years.

There was less movement among the batters in the series due to the absence of England’s top two in the rankings – Natalie Sciver-Brunt and Danni Wyatt-Hodge, while the Kiwi pair of Amelia Kerr and Suzie Bates failed to fire with the bat.

In the same way England dominate the bowling list, it is still Australia who appear to possess the strongest batting suit, with Georgia Voll and Beth Mooney still occupying the top two positions, with Tahlia McGrath sixth and Phoebe Litchfield joint-13th.

Maddy Green’s 56 in the second match – in which she shared a national-record fifth wicket partnership of 159 with Devine to lift New Zealand from 11 for four to post a winning total – helped her up eight places to 39th over the series as she accumulated 93 runs.

Maia Bouchier has moved from 40th to 34th while Alice Capsey, who finished with 99 runs in the series and anchored England’s successful chase of 137 in the first match at Derby with a career-best, unbeaten 74, has risen nine places to reach 45th position.

New Zealand skipper Amelia Kerr has slipped in the batting and bowling rankings and conceded the top all-rounders’ spot to West Indies skipper Hayley Matthews, who has reclaimed the number one position she held for two and half years between October 2023 and March 2026, when Kerr overtook her.