Opportunity for England to move ahead of Sri Lanka in fifth position

Opportunity for England to move ahead of Sri Lanka in fifth position: Reshuffling of the pack in the middle of the ICC ODI Player Rankings is on the cards as England hosts world champion Australia in a five-match One-Day International (ODI) series, which starts in Southampton on Thursday.

Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, one of the stars of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, will begin as the highest-ranked batsman in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen in ninth position but there are as many as six batsmen occupying positions from 11^th to 33^rd who will be aiming to finish higher by the time the series concludes at Old Trafford on 13 September.

Australia’s George Bailey is 11^th, followed by his captain Steven Smith (14^th), Jos Buttler (17^th), David Warner (22^nd), Shane Watson (23^rd) and England captain Eoin Morgan (33^rd). With 80 points separating Bailey from Morgan, strong performances in what is expected to be another keenly-contested series will help these batsmen finish in higher positions.

Maxwell himself will be aiming to make gains and can potentially finish ahead of New Zealand’s seventh-ranked Ross Taylor whom he trails by 25 points.

South Africa holds the top two batting positions with captain AB de Villiers leading Test captain Hashim Amla by 73 points.

World’s number-one ranked Mitchell Starc will lead the Australia bowling attack and will be looking to widen the gap with second-ranked Imran Tahir of South Africa. The left-arm fast bowler leads the wrist spinner by 42 points but is 18 points shy of his career-high 783 points, which he had achieved against New Zealand in Auckland during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 fixture.

Steven Finn is England’s highest-ranked bowler in 14^th position and will have his eyes on 10^th-ranked Ravichandran Ashwin of India who is 27 points ahead. Finn’s team-mate Moeen Ali is the other bowler who features inside the top 50 in 46^th position and will be looking to improve his ranking.

Bowlers outside the top 50 and aiming to improve their rankings include Shane Watson (80^th), Nathan Coulter-Nile (93^rd) and Ben Stokes (94^th).

In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI All-rounders, Maxwell is the highest-ranked player from either side in sixth position. The list is headed by Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh.

In the ICC ODI Team Rankings, number-one ranked Australia leads sixth-ranked England by 31 points. Irrespective of how the series ends, Australia will finish in the top spot but England can move ahead of Sri Lanka in fifth position if it wins all the five matches of the series.

The following are the series permutations:

• If Eng wins 5-0 – Aus 120 (1^st), Eng (105 5^th)
• If Aus wins 5-0 – Aus 131 (1^st), Eng 96 (6^th)
• If Eng wins 4-1 – Aus 122 (1^st), Eng 103 (6^th)
• If Aus wins 4-1 – Aus 129 (1^st), Eng 98 (6^th)
• If Eng wins 3-2 – Aus 124 (1^st), Eng 101 (6^th)
• If Aus wins 3-2 – Aus 127 (1^st), Eng 100 (6^th)

Series schedule:

3 Sep – 1^st ODI, Rose Bowl (d/n)

5 Sep – 2^nd ODI, Lord’s

8 Sep – 3rd ODI, Old Trafford (d/n)

11 Sep – 4rd ODI, Headingley

13 Sep – 5^th ODI, Old Trafford

ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 1 Sep, before the start of England-Australia ODI series)

Rank   Team              Points

1. Australia          129
2. India                115
3. South Africa   110
4. New Zealand  109
5. Sri Lanka         103
6. England           98
7. Bangladesh     96
8. Pakistan           90
9. West Indies     88
10. Ireland             49
11. Zimbabwe       45
12. Afghanistan    41

(Developed by David Kendix)