ICC Women’s World Cup 2017: Rating the Captains

The ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 came to a conclusion on Sunday with England winning their fourth World Cup title. It was a hard earned victory for them as the Indian eves gave them a hard time till the very end. India were in the driving seat for the majority of the match until England snatched victory away from them riding on Anya Shrubsole’s terrific death bowling.

While there were agony and pain on one side, there was joy and ecstasy on the other. Still, at the end of the day, it was cricket that won. It was a memorable journey throughout.

All the eight captains tried their best to marshal their troops in order to bring glory to their country. However, only one of them, Heather Knight, succeeded at the end of a hard fought one-month long battle.

However, the way each of the captains fought made their country proud. Let us now have a look at how all the captains fared in the tournament.

#1 Heather Knight- 9/10

The English skipper, who brought glory to her country for the fourth time in 11 editions, is the topper of the class. The way she led the side and fought back after their initial setback against India was commendable.

She didn’t lose a single match after that and had an unbeaten run till the very end. She stood 7th on the list of players with most runs in the tournament and 4th among her teammates with 364 runs in 9 matches. Moreover, she made a useful contribution with the ball as well, claiming 8 wickets in 9 matches.

#2 Mithali Raj- 9/10

She led from the front with her batting, scoring 409 runs in 9 matches

Despite losing the final to England, Mithali Raj is our joint topper of the class along with Heather Knight. Her inspirational leadership led a young and inexperienced Indian side right to the finals.

She led from the front with her batting, scoring 409 runs in 9 matches, one run short of Tammy Beaumont’s 410, the highest run-getter in the tournament. The way she motivated the team to fight back after their consecutive defeats against Australia and South Africa in the group stage was commendable.

#3 Meg Lanning- 8.5/10

Her best came out against Sri Lanka when she overshadowed Chamari Atapattu’s 178* with her magnificent innings of 152*

Australia had a terrific run in the group stages. They did full justice to their ‘Defending Champions’ tag when they won 6 out of their 7 group stage matches. And the skipper, Meg Lanning, was instrumental in those victories.

Her best came out against Sri Lanka when she overshadowed Chamari Atapattu’s 178* with her magnificent innings of 152*. Her tally rounded up to 328 runs in six innings. She may well have ended up with a 9-rating. However, her wrong fielding tactics and a duck against India in the semi-finals forced us to rob her off that 0.5 points in her rating. She is our third best captain of the tournament.

#4) Dane Van Niekerk- 8/10

Dane van Niekerk led South Africa from the front

The South African skipper, Dane van Niekerk, led South Africa from the front and emerged as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with 15 scalps to her name in 7 matches. She also contributed a valuable 99 runs with the bat and led her side to 4 victories in 7 group stage matches to end up fourth on the points table.

Her spell of 3.2-3-0-4 against the Windies in the group stage made her the only player in ODI history to claim 4 wickets without conceding a single run. Although South Africa lost to England in the Semi-Final, Niekerk made sure that they kept fighting till the end.

#5) Suzie Bates- 7/10

Suzie Bates en route to her century against Sri Lanka in the opening encounter

Suzie Bates led New Zealand in a superb way until their journey was cut short by India in a must-win clash. She lit up the World Cup with a scintillating century in the very first match against Sri Lanka.

Bates amassed 242 runs with the bat and picked up a solitary wicket in the six matches that she played in the whole campaign. She led her team to victories against Sri Lanka, Windies and Pakistan.

However, her team failed massively when they were up against giants like England, Australia and India. Their match against South Africa was unfortunately washed out. The results could have been different otherwise. But then, you have to prove yourself in what you get.

#6) Stafanie Taylor- 5/10

The Windies surely would have done well if there was a little bit of more support from the other players

Stafanie Taylor could not lead the World T20 Champions to a successful World Cup campaign. She could manage only two victories out of their 7 group stage matches.

She tried her best scoring 179 runs with the bat and claiming 5 wickets with the ball in the whole tournament. However, she couldn’t get the best out of her teammates.

The Windies surely would have done well if there was a little bit of more support from the other players.

#7) Inoka Ranaweera- 3/10

She claimed just 6 wickets and scored just 10 runs in the whole campaign

Sri Lanka just got one victory in the whole campaign under Inoka Ranaweera’s leadership. She could bring much difference to the side neither with the bat nor with the ball.

She claimed just 6 wickets and scored just 10 runs in the whole campaign. A team certainly deserves better from their skipper. Her performances had a direct impact on the overall performance of the team.

Also, big stage pressure had much to do with their poor performance. However, a little bit more pro-activeness from Ranaweera might have made Sri Lanka's campaign a bit better.

#8) Sana Mir- 3/10

153 runs and 6 wickets certainly seem to be a pretty commendable statistics for a captain

Sana Mir could not lead Pakistan even to a single victory in the tournament and they ended right at the bottom of the table. Their best chance of a victory was against India when they restricted them to just 169/9. However, they ended up getting bowled out for only 74 runs in return.

Mir made valuable contributions with both bat and ball in the whole tournament. 153 runs and 6 wickets certainly seem to be a pretty commendable statistics for a captain. But, she couldn’t find enough support from her teammates.