Here are the top ten women's ODI all-rounders of all time, according to the ICC rankings.
The ICC ranking system rates batting and bowling on a scale of 1 to 1000, with all-rounder rating obtained by multiplying the two and dividing by 1000. This means to have a high rating, players must be highly rated at batting and bowling at the same time – no mean feat.
The numbers are the highest rating point achieved for each all-rounder.
10. Carole Hodges
450 v New Zealand (1993)
England’s Hodges only played 47 ODIs, but can be considered as one of the first great all-rounders in women’s ODIs. The first to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 50 wickets in the format, she is still the joint-third fastest, in 46 games. In 1993, she also recorded the first hat-trick in women's ODI cricket.
Hodges’ peak came after her final game, at the 1993 World Cup. She made 45 and returned 0-11 as England beat New Zealand in the final. She finished with 334 and 11 wickets – the second time after 1988 that she managed the double of 300 runs and 10 wickets at a World Cup. No one did it before her, and no one has done it since.
9. Nicola Browne
452 v England (2008)
Before Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr, Browne flew the flag for all-round talent out of New Zealand. Perhaps the most accomplished player in a weak side, her career ODI record stood at 997 runs and 52 wickets at the time of her all-round peak, which came after an unbeaten 45 against England.
Browne was also an accomplished netball player, representing the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic team in 2007; played domestic cricket in both New Zealand and Australia; and was named Player of the Tournament at the 2010 World Twenty20. She retired from international cricket that year, but returned in 2012 after discovering that her seeming lack of motivation was a result of a medical condition, Ceoliac's Disease.
8. Marizanne Kapp
455 v Australia (2024)
An undisputed modern great of the game. Kapp’s ability to bat in the top five and bowl with the new ball have proved invaluable to South Africa from a team balance perspective. Her rating peak came last year, after a stunning show against Australia.
Kapp made 75 to rescue her side from 71-3, before scything through Australia’s top three of Alyssa Healy, Phoebe Litchfield and Beth Mooney en route to an 84-run South African win. It was only the second time in nearly 15 years that a team had successfully defended an ODI total against Australia in Australia.
7. Ash Gardner
471 v England (2025)
Off-spinner Gardner is the first of six (!) Australians in the top seven of this list. The current world No.1 all-rounder, she has been an integral part of the contemporary Australia juggernaut, with one ODI World Cup and three T20 World Cup titles under her belt.
Gardner hit her ratings peak earlier this year, after a maiden ODI century in the Ashes, coming in at 59-4. She averages nearly 29 with the bat, 22 with the ball and only one player has completed the 1,000 run-100 wicket double in fewer matches than her 75.
6. Zoe Goss
476 v New Zealand (1995)
Goss’s most popular moment came when she dismissed Brian Lara and Jeff Dujon in a 1994 exhibition match, both acts of 'revenge' after she was stumped by Dujon off Lara in the first innings of that game. In Australia, this has been acknowledged as a watershed moment for the visibility of women’s cricket in the country.
The following year, Goss hit her ICC ratings peak after a half-century against New Zealand, during a golden period in her career. After first becoming the world No.1 all-rounder in January 1994, she did not drop from the spot until December 1997.
5. Ellyse Perry
545 v West Indies (2019)
If it was Goss in the 1990s, Perry was perhaps the most well-known women’s cricketer among casual cricket fans in the 2010s. She was the world No.1 all-rounder in the format from March 2018 to September 2021. Perry debuted for Australia’s cricket (and football) teams aged 16, and is now an eight-time World Cup winner across formats.
Her list of individual honours is virtually endless. Despite a late-career stagnation (by her standards), she averages nearly 50 with the bat and just over 25 with the ball across 158 ODIs and is one of only two players with over 4,000 runs and 150 wickets. She is also the fastest to the mark of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets, in just 70 ODIs.
4. Lisa Sthalekar
569 v India (2008)
Born in Pune and placed in an orphanage before being adopted and raised in Australia via the USA and Kenya, Sthalekar’s life story would no doubt make for a compelling read. But equally so is her incredible record at international level.
Now a respected broadcaster, Sthalekar’s ODI career spanned nearly 12 years, and overlapped with another great all-rounder, Karen Rolton. A run of 69, 61*, 73*, 104*, 11* and 20 along with 2-39, 0-58, 0-33, 1-15, 4-20 and 1-23 took her to her peak rating in 2008. In 2009, Sthalekar became the first woman to score 1,000 runs and take 100 wickets in ODI cricket.
3. Shelley Nitschke
606 v England (2011)
Left-arm spinner and left-handed batter Nitschke’s international career lasted only seven years, but in that time she distinguished herself as one of Australia’s greats. One of only three players to be rated over 600, she hit the mark after a performance of 53 and 1-30 against England in her penultimate ODI.
Nitschke finished with 2,047 runs and 98 wickets, and won the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award in 2010. She is currently Australia’s head coach, a position she has occupied since 2022.
2. Stafanie Taylor
607 v New Zealand (2013)
Taylor’s ascent to a rating over 600 came in 2013, after a dominating performance against New Zealand. At Kingston, she scored an unbeaten 135 from No.3, where the next-highest score was 29, before taking 4-35 in eight overs. It would take nearly five years for another woman to score a century and take four wickets in the same ODI, and only three in all have done it since.
Now primarily a batter after injury troubles, Taylor’s career record is mind-boggling. She took just 40 matches to complete the 1,000 run-50 wicket double, three matches quicker than anyone else, and is the only woman with 5,000 runs and 150 wickets in ODIs.
1. Karen Rolton
704 v New Zealand (2006)
Rolton is the only player, male or female, to be rated above 700 as an all-rounder, in any format. Primarily a batter, her left-arm medium pace only accounted for 85 wickets in 141 ODIs, but those came at an average of 20.81. The rise to 704 came after an incredible 11-match run that saw her score 601 runs at 66.8, and pick up 14 wickets at 18.3.
Ahead of Rolton’s 100th game, New Zealand coach Steve Jenkin joked that their best tactic was to not dismiss Australia’s openers, so that she couldn’t come out at No.3. She was inducted to the ICC’s Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2018. In March 2018, the main ground of the South Australia Cricket Association’s new sporting facility was named the Karen Rolton Oval.
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