Indian women atop cricket ratings

MUMBAI: With a tour by West Indies women cricketers in February finalised, two Indians will get a chance to consolidate their spots at the top of the women''s international cricket ratings.
Mitali Raj of Andhra/Railways and lefthander opener Jaya Sharma of Delhi/Railways head the top Ten of the International ratings during the period from January 1 to December 31, 2003.
Mitali played 11 innings and aggregated 438 runs with 98 as her highest score (ave. 43.79). Jaya, who played nine innings, was second with 375 (ave. 46.87) with an unbeaten 96 being her highest of the year.
The Indians were followed by Australian captain Belinda Clark, who played seven innings and aggregated 343 runs with 81 been her highest score.
In bowling Indian offspinner Nooshin Al-Khadeer topped in bowling with 18 wickets. She played in 11 matches, bowled 103 overs and captured 18 wickets, conceding 372 runs with 5 for 14 being her best. She averaged 20.66.
WI tour dates: The West Indies women will arrive at Kolkata on February 19, would play two limited-over practice matches against India ''A'' team on February 22-23 at Asansol and Chittranjan before taking on India in the series opener at Dhanbad on February 26. The second match is at Jamshedpur (Feb. 29) followed by Kolkata (March 3), Lucknow (March 6) and Faridabad (March 10).
The 20 probables would be picked up from the Senior Nationals to be held inKolkata from February 1-9. The conditioning camp will be at Dhanbad from February 16-24.