Australia can regain top spot from SA in LG ICC ODI Championship by Icc Media Release

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Event:

ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 7th April 2007

 

Sri Lanka edges past Pakistan into fourth; Hayden, Kallis and Jayasuriya move up batting rankings; Bond closes in on Pollock at top of bowling ladder

 

Australia can regain top spot in the LG ICC ODI Championship if it beats England in Antigua on Sunday.

 

Even if South Africa beats Bangladesh the day before, Ricky Ponting’s side will move back up to number one if it can overcome Michael Vaughan and his men at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. However, that might only last two days as the Proteas will have the chance to snatch it back providing they can defeat the West Indies in Grenada on Tuesday.

 

That is how close it remains at the top of the ODI Championship. As such, whichever team gets further in the ICC Cricket World Cup between South Africa and Australia is likely to be the one to finish the tournament in top position.

 

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has moved past Pakistan into fourth in the table following its thrilling two-run victory over England in Antigua on Wednesday and Mahela Jayawardene’s team now has New Zealand in its sights. And despite that defeat, England is still just two ratings points behind India and can move up to sixth if it has a strong finish to the tournament.

 

In the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, Australia has demonstrated its dominance once again and now boasts six players in the top 15. Following his remarkable spell of recent form Matthew Hayden has jumped up 11 places to eighth position, breaking into the top ten for the first time since June 2005.

 

South Africa’s Jacques Kallis is also back in the top ten for the first time since 2005 as he moves up nine places to seventh and there are also big moves for Sanath Jayasuriya (up three places to fourth) and Stephen Fleming (up six places to 19th).

 

At the top England batsman Kevin Pietersen has stretched his lead over Ricky Ponting in second and Michael Hussey in third. There are also career-best rankings for Ian Bell of England, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chamara Silva of Sri Lanka, Brendan McCullum of New Zealand and Australia’s Shane Watson.

 

Shane Bond’s quest to become the best bowler in the world was boosted in recent weeks as he has closed the gap on Shaun Pollock at the top of the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers. Second-placed Bond has been showing great form in the tournament so far but he still has a long way to go to catch Pollock.

 

Australian veteran Glenn McGrath has moved up two places to third while team-mate Nathan Bracken has snuck into the top five with a fine start to the tournament for the New South Wales left-arm pace bowler.

 

Interestingly, the top eight one-day bowlers in the latest LG Rankings are split evenly between the top four ranked teams with two each for South Africa (Pollock and Makhaya Ntini) Australia (McGrath and Bracken), New Zealand (Bond and Daniel Vettori) and Sri Lanka (Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralidaran).

 

New Zealand’s Jacob Oram has moved up 14 places to 15th in the ladder while there are also career-best rankings for Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka, South Africa’s Andrew Hall and Charl Langeveldt, and West Indies’ Daren Powell.

 

Ireland’s bowlers have also been making their presence felt. Andre Botha has now established himself inside the top 100 and Boyd Rankin is the big mover, having gained 73 places up to 141st following impressive performances against England and South Africa.

 

Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya has overtaken Chris Gayle and Andrew Flintoff to move into second position in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders. Top spot is still occupied by Pollock.

 

Jacob Oram is up to sixth – his best all-rounder ranking – while Scott Styris returns to the top 10 after a few month's absence. Of the eight highest rated all-rounders, South Africa, England and New Zealand have two each.

 

LG ICC ODI Championship

 

Rank Team Points

 

1 South Africa 127

 

2 Australia 127

 

3 New Zealand 115

 

4 Sri Lanka 110

 

5 Pakistan 110

 

6 India 106

 

7 England 104

 

8 West Indies 101

 

9 Bangladesh 43

 

10 Zimbabwe 22

 

11 Kenya 0

 

(Developed by David Kendix)

 

LG ICC One-Day Rankings (after first nine games in Super Eight)

 

Batsmen

 

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Ranking 1 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 808 56.53 808 v SL at Antigua 2007

 

2 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 786 42.87 805 v SA at Johannesburg 2006

 

3 ( - ) Mike Hussey Aus 766 58.63 863 v NZ at Perth 2007

 

4 (+3) ST Jayasuriya SL 761 33.16 838 v Ban at Pietermaritzburg 2003

 

5 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 757 39.75 784 v Ind at Kolkata 2005

 

6 (-1) Mahendra Dhoni Ind 739 44.15 806 v WI at Kingston 2006

 

7 (+9) Jacques Kallis SA 725 45.60 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004

 

8 (+11) Matthew Hayden Aus 722 43.62 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003

 

9 (-5) KC Sangakkara SL 721 36.14 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007

 

10 (-1) Andrew Symonds Aus 715 38.37 774 v Ban at Fatullah 2006

 

11 (-1) Adam Gilchrist Aus 714 35.90 820 v SL at Dambulla 2004

 

12 (-2) Mhd Yousuf Pak 713 41.40 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003

 

13 (-1) Rahul Dravid Ind 709 40.01 754 v WI at Kingston 2006

 

14 (-6) Chris Gayle WI 708 37.98 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006

 

15 (-2) Michael Clarke Aus 706 44.14 749 v SA at Centurion 2006

 

16 (-2) RR Sarwan WI 696 43.47 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006

 

17 ( - ) Yuvraj Singh Ind 687 35.53 739 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2006

 

18 (-3) S Chanderpaul WI 686 38.20 754 v SA at Durban 1999

 

19 (+6) Stephen Fleming NZ 678 32.77 697 v WI at Lord's 2004

 

20 (-2) HH Gibbs SA 665 35.42 750 v SL at Durban 2003

 

Bowlers

 

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Ranking

 

1 ( - ) Shaun Pollock SA 895 23.95 3.72 920 v Pak at Johannesburg 2007

 

2 ( - ) Shane Bond NZ 804 19.05 4.22 804 v Ban at Antigua 2007

 

3 (+2) Glenn McGrath Aus 786 22.31 3.86 903 v SA at Bloemfontein 2002

 

4 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 762 26.80 4.18 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004

 

5 (+1) Nathan Bracken Aus 744 21.99 4.40 786 v Eng at Brisbane 2007

 

6 (-4) M Muralidaran SL 737 22.96 3.84 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002

 

7 (-1) Makhaya Ntini SA 730 23.21 4.39 782 v WI at Cape Town 2004

 

8 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 715 33.16 4.21 767 v Eng at Perth 2007

 

9 ( - ) Brett Lee Aus 707 22.65 4.69 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006

 

10 ( - ) Ian Bradshaw WI 674 28.55 4.29 792 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2006

 

11 ( - ) Abdur Razzaq Ban 665* 21.71 3.88 684 v Ind at Prt-of-Spain 2007

 

12 (+2) Andrew Flintoff Eng 651 25.59 4.36 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003

 

13 (-1) M Mortaza Ban 644 28.08 4.59 679 v Ind at Prt-of-Spain 2007

 

14 (-1) Harbhajan Singh Ind 641 32.45 4.13 735 v WI at Bridgetown 2002

 

15 (+14) Jacob Oram NZ 636 30.23 4.51 766 v Aus at The Oval 2004

 

16 ( - ) Ajit Agarkar Ind 635 27.55 5.03 676 v WI at Kuala Lumpur 2006

 

17 ( - ) Andrew Hall SA 631 25.59 4.52 636 v SL at Guyana 2007

 

18 (+2) Lasith Malinga SL 628* 23.44 4.81 628 v Eng at Antigua 2007

 

19= (-1) Andre Nel SA 617 29.43 4.67 656 v Pak at Centurion 2007

 

( - ) Kyle Mills NZ 617 28.20 4.66 690 v Aus at Mohali 2006

 

(-4) Mhd Rafiq Ban 617 38.60 4.41 650 v Zim at Bogra 2006

 

All-rounders

 

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Ranking

 

1 ( - ) Shaun Pollock SA 463 483 v Pak at Johannesburg 2007

 

2 (+2) ST Jayasuriya SL 406 463 v Pak at Lahore 1997

 

3 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 394 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004

 

4 (-2) Chris Gayle WI 383 511 v Zim at Harare 2003

 

5 ( - ) Jacques Kallis SA 377 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001