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2022 in Review

2022 in review: Wisden’s women’s ODI Team of the Year

2022 In Review: Wisden's Women's ODI Team Of The Year
by Katya Witney 4 minute read

With 2022 coming to a close, a team of Wisden.com writers have picked out Wisden’s women’s ODI Team of the Year, part of the 2022 in Review series.

A memorable year in women’s ODIs, with a World Cup at the beginning of the year and plenty of high-profile bilateral action, plenty of players have singled themselves out with brilliant years in the format. While Australia, dominators of the women’s game and World Cup champions, lead the pack with three names on the list, joint with England. South Africa and India also contribute two names apiece.

2022 in Review: Wisden’s women’s ODI Team of the Year – the selections

Stats in bold refer to 2022 only

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1. Alyssa Healy – Australia (wk)

12 ODIs, 600 runs at 50.00, SR: 95.38, 2 100s

Scoring centuries in both the semi-final and final of the World Cup earlier in the year, Alyssa Healy made sure Australia claimed their seventh trophy at the tournament. Her 170 in the final off 138 balls meant Australia pretty much had the job done by the end of the first innings. The highest score of the tournament and highest score by anyone in a World Cup final (surpassing Adam Gilchrist’s 149 against Sri Lanka in 2007), it was a monumental innings when the stakes were at their highest.

2. Laura Wolvaardt – South Africa

18 ODIs, 882 runs at 49.00, SR: 78.96, 1 100

The leading run scorer in ODIs in 2022, in half of the innings Laura Wolvaardt played this year she passed fifty. After a hundred against the West Indies in February, she made five scored of over 70 across the rest of the year, consistently plundering runs, though without converting to three figures regularly.

3. Meg Lanning – Australia

12 ODIs, 479 runs at 53.22, SR: 84.18, 1 100

Meg Lanning added yet more accolades to her record, claiming her second World Cup winner’s medal and first as captain. Perhaps the pre-eminent women’s cricketer in the world over the last decade, Lanning’s unbeaten 135 against South Africa in the World Cup put a halt to the Proteas’ unbeaten run. After taking a six-month break from cricket following the Commonwealth Games, she’s set to return for Australia in the new year.

4. Harmanpreet Kaur – India

17 ODIs, 754 runs at 58.00, SR: 89.76, 2 100s

Kaur’s devastating 143* off 111 balls against England in September was the highest ever score for an India captain in the format and gave India their first ODI series win in England since 1999. She hit three sixes and six fours off the final 11 balls of her innings, striking at 390.91 after reaching three figures. While her talent has never been in doubt, Kaur showed a consistency in 2022 which has been elusive in previous years, with five half-centuries alongside two centuries.

5. Nat Sciver – England

17 ODIs, 833 runs at 59.50, SR: 91.43, 2 100s; 11 wickets at 46.09, ER: 4.92

Nat Sciver had a remarkable year in 2022, despite taking time out from the game during the second half of the English summer. Two unbeaten centuries against Australia in the World Cup, the second in the final, showed her class against the toughest opposition in the world. After coming back into the England set up against the West Indies earlier this month, she resumed her position as if she’d never been away, scoring 90 in the first ODI and 85 in the third.

6. Beth Mooney – Australia

10 ODIs, 403 runs at 100.75, SR: 96.41, 0 100s

With an average of over a hundred this year and one of few players to average more than three figures in any World Cup, Beth Mooney has been a stand-out lower middle-order batter in 2022. Specialising as an innings finisher, she was only dismissed four times in ODIs this year. Her 67 from 42 balls in the World Cup final ensured Australia posted their third-highest ODI total of all time and the second-highest total in a World Cup final (men’s or women’s).

7. Marizanne Kapp – South Africa

11 ODIs, 350 runs at 43.75, SR: 97.22, 0 100s; 13 wickets at 34.76, ER: 5.22, 1 five-for

South Africa’s talisman always finds something when her team are in need. A World Cup five-for against England followed by two wickets and an unbeaten 34 against New Zealand were key for South Africa in an impressive group stage campaign. With the bat, her strike rate sets her apart at 97.22, the highest of anyone in this team. Despite being in and out of the national side this year for various reasons, if there’s one person you want on your side in a tough situation, it’s Kapp.

8. Sophie Ecclestone – England

20 ODIs, 34 wickets at 19.14, ER: 3.47, 1 five-for

When Sophie Ecclestone took six wickets against South Africa in the World Cup semi-final, it seemed ridiculous that it was her first ODI five-wicket haul. Ecclestone has been integral for England over the last few years but 2022 was her stand-out, cementing her place as the leading spin bowler in the world. She was head and shoulders above the rest in the World Cup, taking seven more wickets than the next best and finished the year with five wickets in the three-match series against the West Indies.

9. Charlie Dean – England

17 ODIs, 29 wickets at 19.82, ER: 4.28

Despite all England’s spin-bowling riches, Charlie Dean has firmly placed herself as Ecclestone’s partner in the XI. After making her debut in 2021, only Ecclestone has more wickets of all spinners in 2022, and three four-wicket hauls in 2022 show her consistency. At only 22 years old and with a strike rate of less than 30, this was a breakthrough year in ODIs for Dean, who just pips Australia’s Jess Jonassen to win selection.

10. Shabnim Ismail – South Africa

17 ODIs, 37 wickets at 14.89, ER: 4.02, 1 five-for

The leading ODI wicket taker in 2022, Shabnim Ismail has had her best ever year in the format which is saying something for South Africa’s leading ODI wicket-taker. One of the fastest bowlers in the world, her two consecutive four-wicket hauls against the West Indies at the beginning of the year gave South Africa their fifth consecutive ODI series victory.

11. Renuka Singh Thakur – India

7 ODIs, 18 wickets at 14.88, ER: 4.62

Having played the least matches of anyone in this side, Renuka Singh Thakur just edges out South Africa’s Ayabonga Khaka for the final spot in the XI. Debuting this year and picking up 18 wickets in 7 matches at an impressive average – with the retirement of Jhulan Goswami, Thakur looks to be the future of the India pace attack. Eight wickets against England in September capped off a memorable first year in ODIs.

2022 in Review: Wisden’s women’s ODI Team of the Year – the line-up

1. Alyssa Healy – Australia (wk)
2. Laura Wolvaardt – South Africa
3. Meg Lanning – Australia (C)
4. Harmanpreet Kaur – India
5. Nat Sciver – England
6. Beth Mooney – Australia
7. Marizanne Kapp – South Africa
8. Sophie Ecclestone – England
9. Charlie Dean – England
10. Shabnim Ismail – South Africa
11. Renuka Singh Thakur – India

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