On Saturday, the ICC announced their women’s T20I team of the year 2024, which was headlined by South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt, who had also been named the skipper of the ICC women’s ODI team of the year.
In 2024, Wolvaardt scored 673 runs at an average of 39 in T20Is, with one century and three fifties, ending the year as the fourth-highest T20I scorer.
Partnering her at the top in the ICC women’s T20I team of the year 2024 is the leading T20I scorer of 2024, Smriti Mandhana, who amassed 763 runs at an average of 42 with eight fifties under her belt.
Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu, the second-highest run-scorer in T20Is in 2024, is placed at No. 3 in the ICC women’s T20I team of the year 2024. The left-hander cracked 720 runs with two centuries and four half-centuries.
The strength of the middle-order of this team are three of the world’s best all-rounders: West Indies’ Hayley Matthews (538 runs, 14 wickets); England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt (423 runs, 7 wickets); and New Zealand’s Melie Kerr (387 runs, 29 wickets). Kerr was the Player of the Tournament at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024.
India’s Richa Ghosh is the wicket-keeper and finisher in ICC’s team. Last year, Ghosh hit 365 runs at a strike rate of 156.
There are three more all-rounders to come in the ICC women’s T20I team of the year 2024, but they have been good enough to force themselves in on one discipline.
South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp, who scored 399 runs and claimed 11 wickets, is joined by Orla Prendergast of Ireland, who aggregated 544 runs and snared 21 wickets at an average of only 12.9, in this team.
India’s Deepti Sharma, too, has been named in this unit, for having taken 30 wickets in T20Is in 2024. The last name in the ICC women’s T20I team of the year 2024 is Pakistan’s spinner Sadia Iqbal, who also picked up 30 wickets at an average of 14 last year.