ICC Women's T20I rankings: Radha remains in 2nd, Deepti, Poonam slip to 5th & 6th spots

All that's transpired on and off the cricket pitch on Saturday

Left-arm Indian spinner Radha Yadav was static at the second spot but compatriots Deepti Sharma and Poonam Yadav slipped a place each to the fifth and sixth positions in the latest ICC Women's T20I players rankings.

Among the batters, Jemimah Rodrigues continued to occupy the fourth spot, while Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur too remained static at the seventh and ninth positions respectively.

India continued to hold on to the fourth position in the ICC Women's T20I Team Ranking.

Among others, spinner Sophie Ecclestone and opener Amy Jones attained career high rankings after helping England blank Pakistan 3-0 in their series in Kuala Lumpur.

Ecclestone, who grabbed six wickets including a haul of three for 21 in the first match, has gained three slots to finish in the fourth position, becoming the first England bowler to tally more than 700 rating points since Anya Shrubsole in 2016.

Australia's Megan Schutt continued to lead the bowlers ranking. The left-arm spinner is on 727 rating points while her previous best was 703 in January this year. Her career-best ranking of third was achieved in February.

Wicketkeeper-batter Jones, who was named 'player of the series' for finishing with 179 runs, has been rewarded with a jump of 30 places to a career-best 17th position.

New Zealand's Suzie Bates continued to head the T20 batting list.

New Zealand's Watling sees more 'bumpers' in Melbourne

New Zealand wicketkeeper BJ Watling expects his team to continue their short-pitched barrage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia if the wicket proves conducive during the Boxing Day Test.

New Zealand lost the series-opener in Perth by 296 runs but rattled Australia's batsmen with short and angled bowling in their second innings, prompting the home side's batting coach Graeme Hick to query the legality of the tactics.

Trailing 1-0 in the three-match series, the Black Caps are likely to regain injury-hit Trent Boult for the second Test at the MCG starting Dec. 26, adding another weapon to their pace arsenal.

Watling noted seamer Neil Wagner had proved particularly tricky for the Australian batsmen, taking five of his seven wickets with the short ball and softening up Matthew Wade with a number of bouncers that hit the body.

"(Wagner) has done it for a very long period of time, he's very skilled at it, he's very accurate at it. And he used it well in Perth and put them under some pressure," he told reporters on Saturday.

"But again, we're going to have see actually what that wicket does. It might not be conducive to that type of bowling so we have to be adjustable."

Wagner was able to remove Steve Smith twice with the short ball and well-placed fields, limiting Australia's master batsman to 59 runs in the pink ball Test in Perth.

Watling dismissed the idea his team had Smith worked out.

"He's that type of guy that really works hard and looks to improve every time. He'll have a different game plan, so we'll have to fight that out on the field."

Watling also said his team would face the same challenges.

"I know fast bowlers like bowling bumpers. We're going to face it and we've got to work on it," he said.

New Zealand's main concern is their top order batting, with opener Jeet Raval down on runs and expected to be dropped for the MCG Test.

Watling, who started his Test career as an opener, is seen as an option to replace Raval.

But the 34-year-old has not batted at the top of the order since 2012.

"I've done it in the past, I don't think it's a comfortable position in general, to be honest," Watling, who has played 66 Tests, said with a wry tone.

"But we'll discuss things over the next few days and see what eventuates."

PCB ropes in seasoned curator Atkinson to improve state of pitches in country

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has hired the services of experienced curator Andy Atkinson to review the state of pitches in the country and help local curators prepare sporting pitches.

The PCB in its bid to improve its cricket structure will also revamp the National Cricket Academy in Lahore and turn it into a high-performance center.

Board CEO Wasim Khan said that Atkinson would be visiting Pakistan from January and will visit all the cricket centers in the country to review the state of the pitches and will also hold classes for curators to apprise and update them on the latest pitch making techniques.

"We have had some very dead pitches this domestic season and we want to improve the overall situation as far as pitches are concerned. We want pitches which are sporting and produce results over four to five days as test and international cricket is also returning to Pakistan," Khan said.

The PCB in the past has also called up Atkinson to help them out and Khan said the experienced English curator would be visiting Pakistan after regular intervals to keep up a follow-up process.

Khan also confirmed that they were taking steps to revamp the national academy in Lahore and its regional academies.

"Mudassar Nazar will be leaving before May as he no longer wants his contract extended as director of NCA so obviously we are looking at restricting things," he added.

Mudassar's decision to not have his contract renewed comes soon after the board accepted the resignation of a senior official in the NCA, Ali Zia.

Asked if Ali Zia, a former first class player is under investigation for corruption, Khan said an inquiry was being held and it was too early to say anything.

"But even if he has resigned it makes no difference as whatever comes out of the inquiry he will have to face it or will be cleared," he said.

Khan also made it clear that there would be more changes in the NCA set up as the board had hired English coach David Parsons to oversee certain aspects of the high-performance center.

The PCB official also confirmed that the policy on allowing players to take part in foreign leagues was also being changed as presently there was some ambiguity in the existing policy.

He confirmed that a Pakistani player (said to be former test pacer, Muhammad Khalil) had reported an approach made to him during the T10 league in Qatar to the PCB which had passed on the information to the ICC anti-corruption unit.