Opportunity for South Africa to move up to second position

A busy limited-overs cricket period, which starts on 25 September with the Bangladesh versus Afghanistan ODI in Mirpur and the one-off South Africa versus Ireland ODI in Benoni and culminates with the third ODI between Bangladesh and England in Mirpur and fifth ODI between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town on 12 October, will see 16 matches being played between eight teams on the ICC ODI rankings with a year to go before the determination of which seven highest-ranked sides along with England will qualify automatically for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

While Australia and South Africa I will aim to consolidate their current positions, Bangladesh, the West Indies  and Pakistan will target to improve their rankings.

The string of matches start on Sunday with the first of three ODIs between Bangladesh and Afghanistan in Mirpur and a one-off ODI between South Africa and Ireland in Benoni. Ireland also gets a match against Australia in Benoni on 27 September, while Pakistan and West Indies will play a three-match series in the United Arab Emirates from 30 September to 5 October. Bangladesh will host England for three ODIs from 7 to 12 October.

World champion Australia is currently on 124 points and without an immediate threat to its top ranking with New Zealand second on 113 points.

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But a series win for South Africa, which is fraction of a point behind India, against Australia could help it move ahead of the reigning ICC Champions Trophy winner. A 3-2 series win will put South Africa in the third position on 112 points, while a 4-1 series win will lift it to the second position on 114 points.

For Australia, a 3-2 series win will maintain its current 124 points with a maximum drop to 118 points in the case of a 5-0 series whitewash. Even if it also loses its preceding one-off match to Ireland and gets blanked by South Africa, Australia will retain number-one position at 116 points with South Africa behind it on decimal points.

For Bangladesh, which is currently seventh-ranked with 98 points, a 3-0 win against Afghanistan and a 2-1 win against England could help it move to the sixth place, ahead of Sri Lanka on decimal points.

England will retain its fifth position, irrespective of how the series pans out.

Former world champion Pakistan, which is the top-ranked Test side but is struggling in ninth position, but can overtake eighth-ranked West Indies only with a 3-0 win. In that scenario, it will jump from 86 points to 89 points, while the West Indies will slide from 94 points to 88 points.

The ODI team rankings, unlike the Test rankings, are updated after each match. The ICC ODI predictor function is available here.

In the individual rankings, South Africa players will be in focus since they have four each in the top 10 in the list of batsmen and bowlers.

Captain AB de Villiers is top-ranked in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen, Hashim Amla is third-ranked while Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis are in ninth and 10th places, respectively.

In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI Bowlers led by West Indies’ Sunil Narine, leg-spinner Imran Tahir is South Africa’s leading player at the fifth position with the pace duo of Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada at joint-seventh place. Morne Morkel completes the team’s dominance in individual rankings at ninth slot.

Also read – AB de Villiers to miss out the only ODI against Ireland

Australia does not have a single batsman in the top 10 but a group of batsmen just a little below with David Warner the best at 13th rank. Aaron Finch (15th), George Bailey (17th) and Steve Smith (18th) are all in the top 20.  Pace bowler Mitchell Starc is the only Australian in the top 10 among bowlers, at the third position.

Other batsmen looking to better their rankings in upcoming matches will include Joe Root (4th) of England, Mushfiqur Rahim (19th) of Bangladesh, Mohammad Hafeez (23rd) of Pakistan and Ed Joyce (28th) of Ireland.

In the bowlers’ list, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan (4th), Pakistan pace bowler Mohammad Irfan (11th) and the Afghanistan pair of Mirwais Ashraf (21st) and Mohammad Nabi (22nd) will be among those eyeing chances to improve their rankings.

Upcoming ODIs:

South Africa v Ireland:

September 25: Only ODI, Benoni

Bangladesh v Afghanistan:

September 25: 1st ODI, Mirpur

September 28: 2nd ODI, Bangladesh v Afghanistan, Mirpur

October 1: 3rd ODI, Bangladesh v Afghanistan, Mirpur

Australia v Ireland:

September 27: Only ODI, Benoni

South Africa v Australia:

September 30: 1st ODI, Centurion

October 2: 2nd ODI, Johannesburg

October 5: 3rd ODI, Durban

October 9: 4th ODI, Port Elizabeth

October 12: 5th ODI, Cape Town

Pakistan v West Indies:

September 30: 1st ODI, Pakistan v West Indies, Sharjah

October 2: 2nd ODI, Pakistan v West Indies, Sharjah

October 5: 3rd ODI, Pakistan v West Indies, Abu Dhabi

Bangladesh v England:

October 7: 1st ODI, Bangladesh v England, Mirpur

October 9: 2nd ODI, Bangladesh v England, Mirpur

October 12: 3rd ODI, Bangladesh v England, Chittagong

ICC ODI Team Rankings (as of 23 September 2016)

Team               Points

Australia            124

New Zealand     113

India                  110

South Africa      110

England             107

Sri Lanka           101

Bangladesh          98

West Indies          94

Pakistan               86

Afghanistan         49

Zimbabwe           46

Ireland                 43

ICC ODI Player Rankings (as of 23 September 2016)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank     Player                  Team     Pts         Avge      Highest Rating

1         AB de Villiers     SA         887       53.63     902 v NZ at Auckland 2015

2         Virat Kohli          Ind         813       51.51     886 v Ban at Fatullah 2014

3         Hashim Amla      SA         778       51.97     901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012

4         Joe Root               Eng        758       45.71     776 v Pak at Trent Bridge 2016

5         K. Williamson     NZ         752       47.00     798 v SA at Centurion 2015

6         Martin Guptill     NZ         751!      43.25     751 v Aus at Hamilton 2016

7         Rohit Sharma      Ind         750       42.08     761 v Aus at Sydney 2016

8         Shikhar Dhawan  Ind         737       43.97     794 v SA at Melbourne 2015

9         Q. de Kock           SA         735       41.83     789 v Eng at Centurion 2016

10=      Faf du Plessis      SA         716       40.56     730 v Aus at Barbados 2016

39. Dilshan            SL          716       39.27     802 v Sco at Hobart 2015

Other selected rankings

Rank     Player                  Team     Pts        Avge      Highest Rating

13          David Warner      Aus        703       38.45     726 v SA at St Kitts 2016

15=        Aaron Finch         Aus        698       37.34     743 v Eng at Melbourne 2015

Jos Buttler           Eng        698       38.37     706 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2016

17          George Bailey     Aus        695       42.50     867 v SA at Harare 2014

18          Steve Smith         Aus        687       41.25     709 v Ind at Canberra 2016

19          M. Rahim            Ban        661       31.61     671 v Zim at Mirpur 2015

22          Glenn Maxwell    Aus        636       33.26     735 v Ind at Canberra 2016

23          M. Hafeez            Pak        617       32.35     665 v Ban at Mirpur 2014

24          Tamim Iqbal        Ban        611       31.63     637 v WI at Khulna 2012

28          Ed Joyce              Ire          604       37.67     618 v Afg at Belfast 2016

34          M. Shahzad          Afg        578       36.81     593 v Ire at Belfast 2016

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank     Player                  Team     Pts         Avge      Eco        Highest Rating

1         Sunil Narine        WI         759       25.74    4.07      791 v SL at Jamaica 2013

2         Trent Boult          NZ         731*     22.96    4.81      745 v Aus at Auckland 2016

3         Mitchell Starc     Aus        711        19.61    4.78      783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

4         S. Al Hasan          Ban        699        27.89    4.30      717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

5         Imran Tahir         SA         693       23.13    4.64      735 v SL at Sydney 2015

6         Matt Henry          NZ         675*!    22.17    5.42      675 v Aus at Hamilton 2016

7=       Dale Steyn           SA         645       25.93    4.86      746 v Ind at Durban 2013

Kagiso Rabada    SA         645*!    21.45    4.78      645 v WI at Barbados 2016

9         Morne Morkel     SA         628       24.60    4.95      717 v SL at East London 2012

10        Adil Rashid         Eng        609*     40.21    5.66      612 v Pak at Headingley 2016

Other selected rankings

Rank     Player                 Team     Pts         Avge      Eco       Highest Rating

11          M. Irfan               Pak         607        30.71     4.91      641 v UAE at Napier 2015

14          Moeen Ali           Eng        596       42.00     4.98      610 v SA at Cape Town 2016

15          M. Mortaza          Ban        579       30.76     4.73      653 v Zim at Mirpur 2009

16          Chris Woakes      Eng        578       33.70     5.65      591 v Pak at Trent Bridge 2016

17          Josh Hazlewood  Aus        575*     25.33     4.64      593 v WI at Barbados 2016

18          James Faulkner   Aus        570       31.07     5.47      585 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

19          Jason Holder        WI         565       32.70     5.58      577 v Aus at St Kitts 2016

21          Mirwais Ashraf   Afg        558*!    30.31     3.98      558 v Ire at Belfast 2016

22          M. Nabi               Afg         556       35.82     4.34      564 v Ire at Dubai (GCA) 2015

32          G. Dockrell          Ire          530       31.67     4.42      589 v WI at Nelson 2015

All-rounders (top five)

Rank     Player                  Team     Pts        Highest Rating

1         S. Al Hasan          Ban        416       453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

2         A. Mathews         SL          352       427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014

3         James Faulkner   Aus        334       361 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

4         T. Dilshan            SL          303       415 v Sco at Hobart 2015

5         M. Nabi               Afg         292       296 v Ire at Dubai (GCA) 2015