World Cup Glory: Smriti, Jemimah, Deepti Shine in ICC's Elite Tournament Team

The trio is joined by three players from the tournament runners-up, South Africa; Captain Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp, and Nadine de Klerk along with three Australians -- Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, and Alana King. Additionally, two English players --Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone and Pakistan’s Sidra Nawaz complete the lien up.

The openers faced each other in the final, with Mandhana chosen to partner Laura Wolvaardt at the top of the lineup. The pair finished as the top run scorers in the tournament, with Wolvaardt leading at 571 runs, averaging an impressive 71.37. This made her the highest individual run-scorer at an ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, highlighted by her magnificent, consecutive centuries in the semi-final and final.

Mandhana, meanwhile, scored a century against New Zealand in the league stage and concluded the tournament with 434 runs at an average of 54.25.

Mandhana’s teammate Rodrigues takes the number three position after her memorable match-winning 127 not out, sending the hosts to the final at Australia’s cost. Sharma, another Indian star, was also chosen after leading the bowling charts with 22 wickets, including her crucial spell in the showdown.

The Proteas are also well represented alongside Wolvaardt. Kapp reclaims her spot in the team after another strong recent performance with bat and ball, scoring two half-centuries and taking 12 wickets. That includes five for 20 against England in the semi-final, which helped her become the leading wicket-taker in ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup history.

Her teammate, Nadine, also delivered an impressive all-round performance. Her unbeaten 84 off 54 balls contributed to her team's victory over India in the league stage, and she also picked up nine wickets.

Australian bowlers Alana and Sutherland both feature in the ICC’s team of the tournament. The spinner etched her name in history by picking up a seven-wicket haul against South Africa in the league stage while conceding only 18 runs as she registered the best bowling figures across all editions of the Women’s World Cup.

Sutherland ended with 17 wickets, just behind Sharma, and scored an unbeaten 98 to help her team defeat England in the round-robin stage. She achieved this as part of a 180-run partnership with Ashleigh Gardner, who scored her second century of the tournament and is positioned in the middle order. Gardner also took seven wickets this season.

Sidra Nawaz dons the gloves, having ended her campaign with three catches and four stumpings for Pakistan. Notably, she made a fantastic catch on the leg side during the team’s game against India to dismiss the eventual World Cup-winning captain Harmanpreet Kaur, and demonstrated lightning-fast reflexes to whip off the bails and dismiss Kim Garth in Pakistan's match against Australia.

Ecclestone rounds off the XI after taking 16 wickets at an average of 14.25, including four-wicket hauls against Sri Lanka and South Africa. Her teammate, Sciver-Brunt, contributed 262 runs and nine wickets and was chosen as the 12th player after an impressive first World Cup as captain.

The selection panel includes commentators Ian Bishop, Mel Jones, and Isa Guha, along with Gaurav Saxena (ICC General Manager – Events and Corporate Communications) and Estelle Vasudevan (Journalist Representative).

ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Team of the Tournament: Smriti Mandhana, Laura Wolvaardt (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Ashleigh Gardner, Deepti Sharma, Annabel Sutherland, Nadine de Klerk, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Alana King, Sophie Ecclestone, Nat Sciver-Brunt (12th player)

-- IANS

- IANS