Cricket news roundup – 5th March 2019: Imran Tahir announces retirement, England Women beat India

England Women easily beat their Indian counterparts in the first T20I of the three-match series; Indians have now sealed all four top ICC ODI rankings; Imran Tahir will quit ODIs after the upcoming World Cup; Kane Williamson eyes No. 1 spot in batting rankings; and AB de Villiers has announced that he won’t feature in the Pakistan leg of PSL 2019.

The Eves crumble

England Women turned things around after losing the ODIs to India Women. Danni Wyatt (35 in 34 balls) and Tammy Beaumont (62 in 57) added 89 in 69 balls for the opening stand at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.

But the real assault came from captain Heather Knight (40 in 20), who hit Arundhati Reddy for five fours in an over. England finished on 160/4.

The steam ran out of the Indian chase after they were reduced to 23/3 by the fourth over. They gave up on the chase at 46/5 and played out the 20 overs to finish on 119/6.

Indians seal top ODI spots

Jhulan Goswami’s terrific show in the ODIs against England (8 wickets at 11.25) has helped her reclaim the No. 1 spot in ICC Women’s ODI bowling rankings. With 730 points, Goswami is 7 ahead of Australia’s Jess Jonassen.

This also means that Indians have claimed all top four spots in ODIs: Virat Kohli (887) for ODI batting, Jasprit Bumrah (808) for ODI bowling, Smriti Mandhana (797) for Women’s ODI batting, and Goswami.

Tahir’s run to come to an end

Imran Tahir will retire from ODIs after the upcoming World Cup in England and Wales. However, he will continue to play T20s, both international and across the world.

At this stage of his career Tahir has 156 wickets from 95 ODIs at 24.56 – the best average for any leg-spinner with a 150-wicket cut-off – and an economy rate of 4.65. His 7/45 against West Indies are the best ODI figures in South African history.

Tahir boasts of an excellent World Cup (29 wickets at 16.31, economy 4.08). He took 4/26 to rout Sri Lanka in the 2015 quarter-final to help South Africa win their only knockout match in the history of the tournament.

Williamson chases top spot

With 915 points, Kane Williamson has equalled his career-best ICC Test batting rating, and is just 7 behind Virat Kohli (922) in the rankings. He had scaled the No. 1 spot in 2015, but not for long.

He had also reached 915 on December 19, 2018, but at that point Kohli was on 934.

AB to head home

AB de Villiers will not feature in the PSL 2019 matches to be played in Pakistan due to a back injury. De Villiers’s contract included 7 matches in UAE and 2 in Lahore (now Karachi), but the injury has ruled him out of the tournament.

This came as a major blow for Lahore Qalandars, who are eyeing a semi-final spot for the first time in PSL history.