We count down the best female players of the last 25 years

27-Sep-20241:21

Nat Sciver-Brunt builds her ultimate cricketer

Everyone loves a ranking list, right? Following on from our colleagues in ESPN, who have been running lists of the top athletes of the century on their platforms, we thought the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup was a good time to look back over the 21st century so far and select the top 25 female cricketers.Will the player you expect to finish No. 1 finish here? Will a player be ranked too high? Will your favourite player be ranked too low or not make the list (sorry if that’s the case). Here are the final five.A group of ESPNcricinfo writers came up with a longlist of 50 names, which were then put into a voting system that played off pairs against each other. Once that was completed, a smaller group then assessed the list for anomalies or glaring omissions.Here are Nos. 25-16 and 15-6</a.Note: only achievements posted after January 1, 2000 are taken into consideration, even if the athlete’s career ran either side of the millenniumStats for 2000 and beyond
Test batting | Test bowling | ODI batting | ODI bowling | T20I batting | T20I bowling | All T20 batting | All T20 bowling

5: Jhulan Goswami (India)

Jhulan Goswami walks out to a guard of honour from her team-mates at Lord’s•ECB/Getty ImagesGoswami’s rise and the way she made a place for herself at the very top of the women’s game is a celebration of the potential that lies in India’s small towns and villages. Her two-decade long career was studded with several milestones, none bigger than her record for most ODI wickets. In 2017, she was part of a team that nearly brought home India’s first world title.Until her retirement, which fittingly came at Lord’s, also the scene of her (and India’s) biggest heartbreak, her career was marked by deep commitment, an abiding quest for perfection, and a willingness to fight the odds. She prevailed over injuries to her back, heel, shoulder, ankle and knees.Goswami was among the quickest bowlers on the women’s circuit. Her height allowed her to extract steep bounce, and her ability to nip the ball off the seam, alongside her unerring accuracy made for a potent combination. Ask Meg Lanning, to whom she bowled arguably the women’s cricket version of Shane Warne’s “ball of the century” to Mike Gatting’, at the World Cup semi-final.In her post-retirement career, Goswami is actively involved in coaching, at the grassroots in Bengal, and as bowling coach for inaugural Women’s Premier League champions Mumbai Indians.

4: Alyssa Healy (Australia)

Alyssa Healy has often been at her best in World Cups•Getty ImagesBig players, they say, own big moments, and that makes Healy – ironically nicknamed Midge – a giant of the game. Her 170 in the final of the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup set Australia up for their seventh title in the 50-over format, and underlined their status as pace-setters of the sport. Healy was the leading run-scorer at the event and her 509 runs were also the most by a batter in any single edition of the tournament.Healy has been part of two ODI World Cup-winning teams and six T20 World Cup champion sides, and has been a major contributor in those wins. She was the leading run-scorer at the 2018 T20 World Cup, the second-highest at the 2020 tournament and the fourth-highest in 2023.Her unbeaten 148 against Sri Lanka in 2019 was the second-fastest century in women’s T20Is, and at the time, the highest score in the format. Healy’s ability to take the game away at clutch moments was best demonstrated against India in the 2020 T20 World Cup, in front of more than 86,000 people, where she struck 75 off 39 balls to all but decide the title. The move to permanently opening in ODIs in 2017 was a gamechanger for her: from that point on Healy has averaged 44.92 with a strike-rate of 99.25.Healy won the ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year title in 2018 and 2019. She is one of six Australians to have scored more than 3000 ODI runs and is the second-highest run-scorer for them in T20Is. She also is their most-capped T20I player and has the most catches in women’s T20Is: 61. She was named Australia’s all-format captain in December 2023, replacing the retired Meg Lanning, having led them to Ashes retention earlier that year.Perhaps the only thing missing from her CV is a Test hundred, but she has come as close as it gets, with 99 in her last outing, against South Africa.

3: Meg Lanning (Australia)

Meg Lanning’s trademark•Getty ImagesNothing about Lanning, a non-muscular, 5’6″ tall slim-built woman resembles a butcher. Except when she plays the cut shot to pierce the smallest gaps at backward point.Lanning had an incredible international career, spanning over a decade, in which she scored a plethora of runs and rewrote captaincy records. Thrust into the top job at 21, she led Australia to one ODI World Cup and four T20 World Cup titles during her ten-year tenure. Australia won a record 24 consecutive ODIs under Lanning’s captaincy, the longest winning streak for a captain across genders in the format. She grew in her role as captain and formed a potent combination with head coach Matthew Mott, making Australia the world-beaters they became after the disappointment of the 2017 ODI World Cup.Apart from the raw numbers, Lanning’s ability to step up in key moments and deliver notable performances made her stand out. Her stunning 152 not out in the 2017 ODI World Cup against Sri Lanka in a tall chase was an example. Or her unbeaten 133 in a T20I during the Women’s Ashes of 2019. Her ability to drag the team through to winning positions from tight corners calmly was remarkable; her consistency while doing it made her achievements all the more incredible.Lanning’s retirement last November was something of a shock; at only 31, there was a feeling she had a lot more to give at the top level. But perhaps it speaks of the demands placed on her in a decade where the women’s game grew exponentially. Opportunities on the T20 league circuit mean the world will get to see moer of Lanning, even if it is not in the familiar Australian yellow.

2: Nat Sciver-Brunt (England)

Nat Sciver-Brunt has developed into one of the game’s leading players•ICC via Getty ImagesSciver-Brunt’s value to any team she plays in is there for all to see. England’s win percentage in T20Is when she is playing is 75.21% compared to 58.82% when she isn’t in the side. In ODIs it’s 74.47% when she’s playing versus 46.25% when she’s not.But it is useful to look beyond numbers to gauge her influence on England. Team-mates have repeatedly spoken of the calm, quiet, lead-by-example impact she has as a player, vice-captain, and at times stand-in captain.It’s also worth taking a qualitative approach over a purely quantitative one when considering her on-field performances. Twin unbeaten centuries in what turned out to be futile chases against the Australians at the last 50-over World Cup, including in the final, and two more hundreds on the ODI leg of the 2023 Ashes for one defeat and one series-levelling win show what she can do when the stakes are highest.England faced a stretch of time without her, when she took a mental-health break in 2022, which helped pave the way for other players to feel comfortable saying they need to take time out – relevant amid the rapid growth of women’s franchise cricket.Sciver-Brunt was Player of the Match when her Mumbai Indians side won the inaugural WPL last year, and she was the tournament’s second-highest run-scorer and eighth-highest wicket-taker, having drawn the joint-highest bid for an overseas player in the auction. She also topped the run charts in the 2024 Women’s Hundred.Sciver-Brunt missed the start of England’s home summer in 2024 after undergoing an egg-freezing procedure but ended Pakistan’s visit by scoring another unbeaten ODI century and taking 2 for 11 from five overs; she was making her bowling comeback after a long-term knee injury. Sciver-Brunt’s candour about her brief absence and her return to prominence afterwards can surely open another door for women and highlight her trailblazer status in the game.

1: Ellyse Perry (Australia)

There isn’t much that Ellyse Perry hasn’t achieved in the game•Getty ImagesPerry is the complete cricketer. She was Australia’s youngest international at 16, and having begun with bowling as her primary weapon, developed into one of the game’s greatest allrounders. Her landmarks include a Test double-century and Australia’s best ODI bowling figures, 7 for 22. It was after that haul during the 2019 multi-format Ashes that former England captain Charlotte Edwards hailed her as “the greatest female player we’re ever going to see”. Early the following year she was named the ICC’s Women’s Cricketer of the Decade.Perry’s career is rife with numerous highlights and match-winning displays. They include a nerveless 3 for 18 in the 2010 T20 World Cup final, where she intercepted the final delivery with a right boot, serving as a reminder of her dual-international status: she scored at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Then there was an injury-defying performance in the 2013 ODI World Cup final, with 3 for 19 against West Indies.One of her most iconic moments was the double-hundred against England in 2017, her first hundred in international cricket. Two years earlier she had taken nine wickets in the Ashes Test, including 6 for 32 in the second innings. Perry’s Ashes Test batting average is 67.25 and bowling average 19.11.There was agony in 2020 when a severe hamstring injury ended her T20 World Cup on home soil, but she fought her way back, and having lost her place in Australia’s T20I, side she quashed talk about whether the format was moving ahead of her by bringing a new level to her batting. If someone does eventually challenge Edwards’ claim about Perry, she will be a remarkable player. ESPNcricinfo’s top 25 women cricketer’s of the 21st century: Nos. 1-5 | 6-15 | 16-25

Chelsea are thought to be leading the race to sign FC Porto striker Samu Aghehowa, and a January transfer is now a possibility.

The Blues bounced back from the home defeat to Sunderland with an impressive victory on the road on Saturday, defeating London rivals Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in the Premier League, with Joao Pedro scoring what proved to be the winning goal in the first half.

Enzo Maresca will no doubt be happy with the result, while the manager will also be pleased that Pedro managed to break his duck, having failed to score since the 2-0 victory against Fulham at the end of August.

BlueCo invested heavily in the frontline in the summer, with Liam Delap also arriving from Ipswich Town, but the Englishman struggled with injuries at the start of the campaign, and Maresca wasn’t impressed with his red card against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Maresca said: “We had a very stupid red card that was completely unnecessary and was absolutely deserved,

“After the first yellow card I told him [Delap] four or five times to keep calm. But Liam is a player who, when he’s on the pitch, is probably playing the game for himself and struggles to realise and listen to those around him.”

Chelsea in pole position to sign Aghehowa

It has now emerged that Chelsea are looking to sign a new striker, having moved into pole position in the race for FC Porto striker Samu Aghehowa, alongside London rivals Spurs.

That is according to a report from Correio de Manha (via Sport Witness), which states the Blues are in the lead in the race for Aghehowa, with Porto now willing to sanction a departure as early as January.

Club president André Villas-Boas is prepared to cash-in for a fee of €80m (£70m), so the west Londoners will need to spend big in order to get a deal over the line.

That said, there are signs the Spaniard could be worth splashing the cash on, having maintained a fantastic record in front of goal across his opening two seasons in Portugal.

Season

Appearances (all competitions)

Goals

2024-25

45

27

2025-26

11

9

At 21-years-old, the youngster could be capable of leading the line at a top club for over a decade, with scout Ben Mattinson of the belief he is too good to be playing in Portugal.

There are question marks over whether Aghehowa would be a necessary signing, given that Maresca already has Delap and Pedro at his disposal, but he would undoubtedly be an exciting addition to the squad.

Joao Pedro named as one of the best strikers in the world The Best 15 Strikers in World Football Ranked (2025)

Who is the best number nine right now?

ByCharlie Smith Nov 20, 2025

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O São Paulo anunciou, nesta quinta-feira (8), a extensão contratual com o zagueiro Arboleda até 31 de dezembro de 2027. O antigo vínculo era válido até o fim deste ano, e o equatoriano poderia assinar pré-contrato com qualquer equipe em julho.

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– Agradeço por todos os anos que eu tenho no São Paulo. Por todas as coisas boas que vivi aqui. Só queria agradecer e falar que seguirei mais uns anos aqui. Se Deus quiser, vou completar 10 anos no São Paulo. Podem ter certeza de que sempre vou dar a vida dentro do campo e serei sempre esse jogador que vocês gostam – celebrou o zagueiro.

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Jogador mais longevo no elenco do São Paulo, Arboleda chegou ao Tricolor em 2017 e já disputou 264 jogos pela equipe, com 18 gols marcados. No clube, ele conquistou o Paulistão de 2021, a Copa do Brasil de 2023 e a Supercopa Rei de 2024.

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– O Arboleda é uma referência, um símbolo. Ele chegou em 2017 e, agora, renovou até 2027 pela qualidade técnica e pela dedicação. É um jogador que nos deu muitas alegrias e que, certamente, vai trazer mais conquistas. A presença do Arboleda no CT, no dia a dia e no MorumBIS com a torcida é a representação maior de um grande ídolo, de um grande jogador com grande técnica. A permanência dele é um reforço. O Arboleda é um grande líder do time – afirmou o presidente Julio Casares.

➡️ Veja tabela com datas, horários dos jogos da Libertadores

DIRETORIA QUER ‘TRANCAR’ A DEFESA

Com a renovação de Arboleda, Wellington é o único jogador da defesa cujo contrato não foi estendido. O lateral-esquerdo já recusou duas propostas feitas pela diretoria, e o futuro do atleta está cada vez mais distante do Morumbis. O Internacional monitora a situação e pode apresentar uma oferta até o final da janela, que se encerra no dia 17 de abril.

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Com a saída de Beraldo ao PSG, o técnico Thiago Carpini queria um zagueiro canhoto para compor o elenco, e o São Paulo contratou Sabino, que estava no Sport.

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Yorkshire 354 for 7 (Bean 102*, Wharton 84) beat Durham 142 (White 3-24) by 212 runsFinlay Bean broke Yorkshire’s record for their fastest-ever List A century with a 53-ball hundred in a landslide 212-run win over Durham at Scarborough to maintain their relentless march towards the Metro Bank One-Day Cup knockouts.Bean, batting at No. 5, boosted the Group B leaders to a total of 354 for 7 with a destructive innings of 102 not out off 57 balls, with eight fours and six sixes. James Wharton also contributed a dynamic career best 84. In only his second appearance of the competition, Bean’s maiden List A hundred set Yorkshire up for the fifth win in six matches.Durham then crumbled to 142 all out in 36 overs, losing their fourth game in seven to all but end their knockout hopes. This was their heaviest-ever List A defeat by runs margin. New-ball seamer Jack White returned 3 for 24 from eight overs for the hosts.Yorkshire started solidly under an overcast sky on a pitch with pace and bounce, reaching 99 for 2 after 20 overs. Imam-ul-Haq was caught behind pulling at Ben Raine’s seam for 22 – his lowest score in five One-Day Cup matches – and Adam Lyth caught at deep backward square-leg for 37 following a top-edge against former team-mate Will Rhodes.Having reached 123 for 2 after 25 overs, Will Luxton and Wharton looked to accelerate, and did so for a period as they shared 88 in entertaining fashion. Luxton pulled Raine for six over deep backward square-leg and Wharton also pulled with authority en route to a 54-ball fifty.Almost immediately afterwards, Luxton – on 46 – miscued the pace of Sam Conners to midwicket with the score on 169 in the 33rd. But that only served to bring Bean to the crease, and what followed was sensational. He shared a 101-run stand for the fourth wicket with Wharton.Best known as a determined red-ball opener, Bean reached 50 off 33 balls and scored his second fifty off 20. All of his sixes were leg-side as he beat the previous record for Yorkshire’s fastest List A hundred by seven balls. Lyth, on this ground in 2016, reached his hundred in 60 balls in a two-wicket win over Northamptonshire.Wharton fell short of his own maiden List A hundred as the White Rose scored 174 in the last 15 overs.Durham’s chase then got off to a nightmare start at nine for two in the fifth over, which included two wickets for Ben Coad’s seam and the visitors failing to score off the first 22 balls of the innings.Coad bowled Alex Lees for nought and had Emilio Gay caught at second slip but walked off the field immediately after the second wicket with a suspected hamstring injury. Still, it didn’t hamper Yorkshire in the short term – even if it may do in the next month and a bit.Durham’s race was run before it had got going, with them sinking to 32 for four in the 10th over. Matt Milnes had an uppercutting Colin Ackermann caught behind and White forced captain Ollie Robinson to miscue to Bean at point. George Hill and captain Dom Bess then removed Scott Borthwick and Robbie Bowman before Durham reached 50.Rhodes and George Drissell were Durham’s only two batters to reach 20, with 27 and a consolatory List A best 46 respectively. Rhodes was caught at short third off Lyth’s offspin before Drissell skied White to mid-on, leaving the score at 131 for 9. White finished things off by trapping Codi Yusuf lbw.

After all the joy they experienced in Perth, day one in Adelaide served as a wake-up call for the visitors

Alagappan Muthu06-Dec-20240:45

Pujara: India should have got 250 on this pitch

“Get ready for a broken …” This Australia team don’t say things like that. But Nitish Kumar Reddy managed to get a rise out of their captain when he bailed out of facing the first ball of the 35th over on day one of the Adelaide Test.Pat Cummins has spent this news cycle dealing with questions about the unity of his men and the way they play. He’s been met with whispers of his own decline and insinuations that he takes defeat too easily. None of them seemed to wind him up as much as seeing a perfectly good ball go to such waste. He immediately went bouncer, at 143 kph, and Reddy, despite being ready this time, was barely able to duck for cover. The Adelaide Oval loved that.Related

Stats – Starc gets to Adelaide fifty, Bumrah to 2024 fifty

Starc uses his favourite combination to give Australia just the day they needed

India were finally in the Australia they would have expected before coming here. Loud. Demanding. Hostile. Frustrating. Stingy about rewarding good work and gleeful in punishing mistakes. Towards the end of the day’s play, when Mohammed Siraj expressed his annoyance at having to expend more energy than he needed to for the same reason – a batter pulling away from his stance at the last moment, because of a fan running into his line of sight with a beer snake no less – he was told off by 50,186 people and then laughed at when he conceded a four off the next ball.A lot of the talk leading into this game was about India’s batters having to adjust to the pink ball, given how little they play this flavour of Test cricket. But it seems the bowlers had just as much to get used to. In a strange way, just like in Perth where they got a chance to bowl when the conditions were still helpful, a blessing in disguise if there is such a thing when you’re all out for 150, Jasprit Bumrah and Siraj got to use the pink ball just as twilight was about to hit.Nathan McSweeney and his top-order colleagues employed the leave to telling effect•Associated PressA lot of Australia’s success in these games has been built on batting first, batting big, and sticking the opposition in during the final session (usually of day two) when the floodlilghts take effect and wield a strange power over the game. In 2022, they had West Indies 102 for 4 at stumps on day two after declaring their own innings close to the final session’s play. Their fourth wicket had fallen at 428. In 2021, they took the fairly straightforward call to give up the runs their last two batters might have been able to add to their 479 in order to unleash Mitchell Starc at the England top order, and he delivered with a wicket in his second over, with Michael Neser backing him up before stumps. Australia had had 176 on the board before going two down. England had 12.India would have been hoping for something similar; to leverage the twilight session to make their way back into the Adelaide Test. But it felt like they were getting too much movement and struggled to calibrate their lines and lengths to make it count. An under-fire Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney were able to leave 18 of the first 30 deliveries they faced, and that trend continued. Australia didn’t play at half the balls they faced in the first 20 overs. They had a better understanding of the bounce available off the pitch, which made India look like they were missing their marks.”The lengths could have been slightly fuller to encourage more play,” India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said. “I thought Australia left very well as well. It seemed to be a trademark of the way they play, those two [McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne, who have put on an unbroken 62 for the second wicket]. They left on length very well. We kind of feel the swing and the seam was a little bit inconsistent which makes it difficult for both parties.”India batted to a plan too. They discerned that the good-length ball contained the potential to cause the most problems, and looked to be proactive against anything either side of that. It was in the course of this that KL Rahul and Virat Kohli fell to balls they realised they could leave but not until it was too late. This may have been a mix of what happens in Australia and what happens with the pink ball.”From Tests gone past, and probably no different today, there’s times in a pink game where the ball can get soft and it’s hard to score, hard to take wickets, a dead patch in the game,” Starc said, “Then for whatever reason the ball starts to do a little bit more again.”India have their task cut out after 77.1 gruelling overs in Adelaide•Associated PressIndia left for their hotel at the end of day one with a sense of what could have been. Another feeling well-known among away teams that come here. Shubman Gill missed a straight ball that he could have driven for four. Yashasvi Jaiswal wandered too far across his crease to be able to connect with a ball on leg stump. Rahul and Kohli were indecisive.”Obviously to lose a wicket of the first ball, sort of sends jitters through the change room,” ten Doeschate said, “But we recovered really well and [from] 69 for 1 we probably feel like we missed a chance there. I also feel that’s the nature of the pink ball. Things can happen quickly. Things happen in clumps, we lost wickets in clumps which we wanted to avoid. There’s lessons to be learned in that first innings and we’ll go away and look how to play in the second innings.”Even their most eye-catching spell of play – when Harshit Rana seemed to get inside McSweeney’s head by asking him to use the bat and when Bumrah found his usual control to beat Labuschagne’s bat – didn’t really amount to anything. They felt something might happen. It didn’t.”I don’t think 86 for 1 is a true reflection of how we bowled,” ten Doeschate said. “I thought there were a lot of played-and-misses. Obviously the edge [that we dropped in the seventh over]. I know the score looks like there’s a big gap between the two teams but we still feel we’re in the game and with a few tweaks tomorrow, if we bowl slightly better, we feel like we can get back in the game tomorrow.”India have loved being in Australia. They’ve had things to do at every turn, literally. The e-scooters available for rent on the streets were a huge hit with the team in Perth. There, at the end of every single day, they found themselves in a pinch-me-I’m-dreaming situation. After 77.1 overs in Adelaide, they’ve received a bit of a wake-up call.

Bayern Munich legend and former CEO Oliver Kahn has opined on Vincent Kompany's decision to field Manuel Neuer in their Bundesliga match against Union Berlin last week. This comes after the German goalkeeper's mistake cost the side their 16th straight win from the start of the campaign, forcing them to play out a 2-2 draw, their first of the season.

• Neuer's howler almost cost Bayern the game

  Bayern were handed a tough start against Union Berlin, partly due to Neuer's goalkeeping error in the 27th minute when a shot from Danilho Doekhi slipped through his arms to find its place in the back of the net. This goal had a psychological impact, perhaps, as Bayern, despite equalising through Luis Diaz in the first half, again went down in the 83rd minute, courtesy of another Doekhi goal. However, in the 90th minute, it was English striker Harry Kane who bailed them out of this situation and helped the team settle for a point in this away fixture. 

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• Getty Images Sport
  

  Oliver Kahn slams Kompany's decision

  After a tough game against Paris Saint-Germain, which Bayern won 2-1, Kahn felt that Kompany should have rested Neuer and fielded Jonas Urbig. The backup goalkeeper joined the Bavarians in January from Koln and is yet to establish himself as the first-choice custodian, with Kompany keeping his faith on the 39-year-old Neuer, who is approaching the twilight of his career. Kahn defended Neuer to but felt the ex-Germany international should have been rested, saying: "That's perfectly normal. It doesn't matter if you're world-class or not. These moments just happen. A game like that is quite a mental strain after the match in Paris. The goalkeeper has to constantly anticipate. A game like the one against Union would have been a good opportunity for recovery. So instead, they let Urbig play."

  Kahn also provided references from his own playing career, where he rested himself in certain games to ensure a soothing recovery. He stated: "I actually did that quite often and would say that I needed a recovery break before the next game. It's different than when you're 25 or 35, 38 or 40. The recovery time is longer then."

• Neuer reflects on his performance

  A World Cup winner with the German national team and holder of multiple accolades for Bayern, Neuer is often regarded as one of the finest goalkeeper's in football. However, the veteran unhesitatingly accepted his fault for Bayern's share of points. He said: "I played a part in the first goal. My view wasn't perfect, and the distance wasn't ideal either. But I made the wrong decision. I made the wrong decision in the first goal, we lost the second ball in the second goal. It was tough today against this team, especially after Wednesday. But we believe we'll soon get back to winning ways. In the end I think it was a good point."

  Kompany too, defended his No.1, saying: "What do you expect me to say? That I'll say something about my number one goalkeeper? Of course not. It's a collective game. When you concede a goal, there are many things and sequences that happen before. We look at those moments too."

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  What comes next for Neuer?

  Neuer, a former Germany international with 124 caps, will be beaming to return to action after the international break. The Bavarians have important fixtures against Freiburg and St. Pauli when domestic football resumes later in November. However, their main focus will be on the Champions League tie against Arsenal. The two teams are level on points at the top of the table A win will fuel Bayern's ambitions of finishing the round as league winners. 

Harmanpreet Kaur also rose ten spots to move to 11th on the list for batters

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jul-2025

This is the first time in 2025 that Nat Sciver-Brunt is the No. 1 ODI batter•Getty Images

England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt has displaced India opener Smriti Mandhana to become the No. 1-ranked ODI batter in the world.She was the highest run-scorer with 160 runs at 53.33 average in the recently concluded three-match ODI series against India.While Mandhana slips one position to second in the latest ODI rankings, there is a notable jump for India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who is up ten spots to 11th on the batting charts after making a total of 126 runs in the series. Jemimah Rodrigues also rose two spots to 13th on the list.Harmanpreet didn’t start the ODI series well, but finished with 102 in the last match, which helped India seal the series 2-1. She also became the third India women’s batter to breach the 4000-run mark during the course of her seventh century.Rodrigues managed 101 runs in three games, with a highest score of 50 in the final game and 48 in the first.Full rankings tables

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Click here for the full player rankings

South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt is third in the rankings, while Australia allrounder Ellyse Perry and Australia captain Alysa Healy round out the top five of the list in ODIs.There was also some movement for the Ireland players following their 2-0 ODI series win over Zimbabwe. Allrounder Orla Prendergast rose 12 spots to move to joint-22nd on the ODI batters list after an unbeaten 67 in the second ODI. She also rose ten places on the bowlers’ list and moved to tenth position on the allrounders list.England spinner Sophie Ecclestone continues to lead the ODI bowling list after finishing as the second-highest wicket-taker in the ODI series against India with five wickets. Ashleigh Gardner, Meghan Schutt, Deepti Sharma and Kim Garth round out the top five of the bowlers list.

As we head into the November international break, it's time to review the Premier League season so far. Each side has played 11 games out of 38 and we've got a rough idea of who will be fighting for what this year. Arsenal boast a four-point lead at the top and even have half an eye on Chelsea's record of 16 goals conceded in a single campaign, while Wolves already seem destined for relegation.

However, only 10 points separate Chelsea in third place from West Ham down in 18th. With money flying around from all clubs, there's greater parity than ever. The Premier League is indeed the 'Super League'.

We at GOAL are ready to pause and reflect on the best players to date, with so much quality now splattered across the division, from the leading scorer to towering defenders, from midfield metronomes to total destroyers:

Getty Images Sport10Jeremy Doku (Manchester City)

You can see why Pep Guardiola has been so enamoured with the idea of Jeremy Doku since he arrived from Rennes in 2023. The Belgian winger is easily among the best one-v-one dribblers in world football, though this standout talent has often proven frustrating when trying to turn chances into goals, either himself or by setting up others.

The stats this season aren't too different to his usual numbers – one goal and three assists in 11 Premier League games – but Doku is doing far more to aid Manchester City's recent uptick. Rather than being marooned on an island by the touchline, he's playing far more centrally and getting into the tight spaces only he can expertly navigate so effortlessly.

Bumping Doku into the top 10 is partially grounded in recency bias, but his Player-of-the-Match performance in Sunday's 3-0 thrashing of Liverpool was too difficult to ignore and was one of the finest individual performances of the season.

"I want to play without any fear or doubt or anything," he told reporters. "I'm 23 years old. I hope this is not my peak level. I hope I can still improve, improve my finishing, improve my movements in the box, improve my decision-making, improve on my awareness when I have the ball – a lot. This is an unfinished product and I hope with these team-mates, and a very good coach like Pep, I can still improve."

AdvertisementGetty Images Sport9Martin Zubimendi (Arsenal)

Of all the signings Arsenal made this summer, the ones who excited supporters most upon announcement were Viktor Gyokeres and Eberechi Eze. They haven't, however, quite hit the ground running in N5, but Spanish midfielder Martin Zubimendi certainly has.

He's immediately brought a heads-up attitude that has been missing from Arsenal's midfield since Granit Xhaka departed the club in 2023. Just like the days of Arsene Wenger, the Gunners' No.6 can break the lines with pinpoint passing so effortlessly. Backed up by the muscle of Declan Rice, Mikel Arteta has a rather complete duo on his hands.

After scoring twice in a 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest back in September, Arteta said of Zubimendi: "Certainly he's given us a lot of positive things, his presence, his authority on the pitch, the way he connects with the players and that composure that he's having. If he starts to add assists and goals like this, it's another dimension of a player… He was unbelievable, the two goals are very difficult to score. Martin is bringing such a presence, composure and understanding of the game that makes the team flow and play better. And on top of that, he's adding goals and assists, so that's the trajectory that we have to maintain with him."

AFP8Bryan Mbeumo (Manchester United)

It was hard for Manchester United to sink any lower this season, but they gave it a bloody good go for a few weeks. A slow start to the Premier League campaign, coupled with a humiliating exit to League Two side Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup, followed a year that saw them finish 15th () and lose the Europa League final to Tottenham ().

Ruben Amorim hasn't totally 'turned the Reds around' quite yet, but there are reasons to be positive, none more so than the acquisition and integration of Bryan Mbeumo, a big-money signing who is actually thriving in the intense Old Trafford spotlight. The forward already has five goals in 11 Premier League games for United – a tally which would have ranked as the squad's third-highest for all of last season – and looks every bit a player worthy of representing a club with 20 titles to their name. The Homer Simpson-inspired celebration is a bonus.

Even United's all-time leading scorer has been hugely impressed by Mbeumo, with Wayne Rooney commenting: "Mbeumo has been consistent with his performances, I think that's the main thing. If you're consistently getting in the right positions, getting chances, you will score. When you're a forward and you score goals, you enjoy scoring goals and that feeling keeps going. His confidence is very high at the minute. Hopefully that continues because he's certainly been the best signing for United this season."

Mbeumo took home the Premier League Player of the Month award for October and United fans must already be dreading how they may cope without him when he joins up with the Cameroon squad for their Africa Cup of Nations campaign this winter.

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Getty Images Sport7Declan Rice (Arsenal)

Such has been the success of Declan Rice at Arsenal that nobody even bothers to debate whether the Gunners were right to break the nine-figure mark to sign him from West Ham. "We got him half price," Gunners supporters gleefully sing from the terraces.

This hasn't even been that outstanding of a season for Rice, not by his standards. Nonetheless, he's still providing the midfield steel that protects their dominant backline and is as important an offensive weapon – a huge part of their , if you will – as anyone else in their squad, terrorising opponents with his wicked corners and free-kicks.

For Arsenal and England, Rice has been afforded a bit more freedom this term and for good reason. "I can play No.6 or No.8," he said recently. "I think now I am more of a box-to-box No.8. The manager has adjusted my position at Arsenal a bit this year, given me a bit more freedom to drop deep, but also get in the box when I can. It is the same with Thomas [Tuchel]. I think that really suits me on that left side of midfield. Being able to get back to being an all-round action midfielder is what I want to be, and I am just enjoying my football.

"I have got two managers who lay it out really easy with the game plan, what I have to do and where I have to be. Obviously, I am the one that has to go and execute it, but when you have confidence in football, you feel unstoppable at times. I ended the season really strong last year and probably didn’t start one or two games of this season as good as I wanted, but I have picked up my form now. I feel really strong. I feel fit, really confident in my game, and hopefully the only way is up from here for England and Arsenal."

Pakistan only scored 80 in the back 10 despite being only one down at the halfway mark

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2025Pakistan got to their highest T20I score while batting first against India, 171 for 5. If India win, it will be the highest successful chase of Asia Cup 2025. Yet, the total looked insufficient after the start Pakistan had. They scored just 80 runs in the back 10 despite being just one down at the halfway mark.There was a period of 39 legal deliveries without a boundary leading up to the death overs, which completely derailed what looked like a promising innings that could finally give the tournament a game to remember. It would have frustated Pakistan even more that they had got the better of India’s spin threat, hitting three sixes in the first three middle overs, but succumbed to the sixth bowler, Shivam Dube.Dube ended up with figures of 4-0-33-2, taking the wickets of the two set batters, Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub, who put on 72 for the second wicket after the latter’s demotion to No. 3. Farhan, who reached 51 off just 34 balls, ended up with just 58 off 45. It was only Faheem Ashraf’s unbeaten 20 off 8 in the end that gave Pakistan respectability.Pakistan, the slowest side bar Oman and UAE in the middle overs during this Asia Cup, had looked set to correct those numbers, but Dube’s breakthrough and the quality of Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav proved to be too big a challenge. Varun went for just 25 in four overs, and Kuldeep returned figures of 4-0-31-1.

Leeds United have lost three of their last four matches in the Premier League and will be hoping to head into the international break off the back of a positive result.

The Whites travel away from Elland Road to take on Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Sunday, after they were beaten 3-0 by Brighton last time out in the division.

Daniel Farke’s side have failed to score in four of their five away matches in the Premier League so far this season, and they need more than just Noah Okafor to step up in the final third.

Why Leeds United need another Noah Okafor

The £18m signing from AC Milan has provided a spark at the top end of the pitch this season, with two goals and one ‘big chance’ created in six league starts, per Sofascore.

Okafor, who completed five dribbles against Brighton, scored an excellent goal in the club’s only away win in the Premier League so far this season, utilising his pace, composure, and quality to find the back of the net against Wolves.

The Switzerland international is the club’s joint-top scorer in the league, alongside Joe Rodon, and the top scorer from open play, which speaks to how important he is to Farke’s side at this moment in time.

However, the fact that no other forward in the squad has produced more than one goal in the Premier League so far this season is a cause for concern moving forward, as it suggests that the manager does not have many reliable options in the final third.

Fakre could, though, unearth his next version of Okafor by finally unleashing the rarely-seen Wilfried Gnonto as a starter against Nottingham Forest this weekend.

Why Leeds should unleash Wilfried Gnonto

The Italy U21 international returned from a calf injury ahead of the clash with Brighton, per the manager, but he was not included in the matchday squad for that game, which means that he has not featured in a game since the 1-0 loss to Fulham in the middle of September.

Gnonto has only played four times in the Premier League so far this season, per Sofascore, and this means that the rarely-seen star has not had too many opportunities to prove that he can make a positive impact in the top-flight.

The Italian winger’s form in the Championship in the 2024/25 campaign suggests that there is more to come from him than the zero goals and zero assists that he has managed so far this term.

xG

8.22

Top 7%

Goals

9

Top 9%

Shots on target

29

Top 7%

xA

3.74

Top 22%

Chances created

46

Top 13%

Assists

6

Top 13%

As you can see in the table above, Gnonto ranked among the best wingers in the second tier when it came to scoring and assisting goals last season, despite only starting 26 of his 43 appearances in the league.

The 22-year-old talent, who was once described as “explosive” by U23 scout Antonio Mango, has the potential to be an Okafor-esque player for the Whites if he can finally carry his output over to the Premier League.

When the Whites were last in the top-flight, Gnonto produced two goals and four assists in 14 starts as a teenage winger, per Sofascore, which shows that he can make an impact at that level when he is at his best.

It is now down to Farke to help him hit those heights again by finally unleashing him on the right wing now that he is fit and available for selection, because the youngster is an electric winger who can be a difference-maker like Okafor if Leeds can get him firing.

Leeds told "dangerous" striker could be open to January move with 49ers keen on deal

Recent reports have indicated that the Whites hold an interest in this impressive Championship forward.

ByJames O'Reilly Nov 6, 2025