South Africa will aim to return to the summit of the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table when it goes head-to-head with England in a five-match ODI series starting at Leeds on Friday.
South Africa is currently two ratings points behind Australia on 128 but will go three points clear if it sweeps the series 5-0. A 4-1 win will put it on 130 ratings points but ahead of Australia when those ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.
South Africa is 22 rating points ahead of sixth-placed England and that gap means it is expected to win the series comfortably. If it fails to do so then its rating will suffer and it will lose two points if it secures only a 3-2 success. A loss by the same margin will see Graeme Smith’s side slide to 122 points.
South Africa and England ’s post-series positions in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table are dependent on not only their own form in the series but also the result of the Sri Lanka – India clash. That five-match series is currently level at 1-1 and concludes on 29 August.
A 5-0 series loss for Kevin Pietersen’s side will drop it to 102 ratings points and a 4-1 defeat will cost it one ratings point but a 3-2 defeat, a creditable result given the large gap between the sides, will actually earn it three points, lifting it to 109.
A victory by a 5-0 margin will put England on 118 ratings points and drop the Proteas to 116 ratings points while a 4-1 series result will lift England to 115 and drop South Africa to 119.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, Smith holds the top slot and will be looking to open the gap from second-placed India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is currently involved in the ODI series in Sri Lanka .
Besides Smith , South Africa has AB de Villiers (8th), Herschelle Gibbs (11th) and Jacques Kallis (17th) are in the top 20 while Pietersen is the highest ranked England batsman in 12th position.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Australia ’s Nathan Bracken holds the top placing but South Africa ’s fifth-placed Andre Nel has a chance to leapfrog the Sri Lanka duo of Muttiah Muralidaran and Chaminda Vaas, depending how the trio perform over the coming days.
Makhaya Ntini currently sits in 14th place and will be targeting an upward movement to back his fifth place in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers.
Like South Africa , England also boasts two players in the top 20 with fast bowler Stuart Broad as the highest ranked bowler in a career-high 13th place which he achieved against Scotland at Edinburgh earlier this week.
Andrew Flintoff is the other bowler in top 20 in 17th spot.
England ’s James Anderson is 22nd while South Africa ’s Dale Steyn has room for upward movement as he is currently 121st.
Kallis has a good chance to surge to the top of Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders as he has Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik and New Zealand ’s Jacob Oram firmly within his sights.
Series schedule
22 August – First ODI, Leeds
26 August – Second ODI, Nottingham
29 August – Third ODI, The Oval
31 August – Fourth ODI, Lord’s
3 September – Fifth ODI, Cardiff
Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship (as of 21 August)
Rank Team Rating
1 Australia 130
2 South Africa 128
3 New Zealand 116
4 India 112
5 Pakistan 110
6 England 106
7 Sri Lanka 106
8 West Indies 95
9 Bangladesh 46
10 Ireland 18
11 Zimbabwe 16
12 Kenya 0
ICC One-Day Rankings (as of 21 August)
Batsmen
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 Graeme Smith SA 792! 41.11 792 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
2 MS Dhoni Ind 766 47.33 806 v WI at Kingston 2006
3 Ricky Ponting Aus 751 43.24 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007
4 Mike Hussey Aus 750 54.92 863 v NZ at Perth 2007
5 S.Chanderpaul WI 744 40.49 754 v SA at Durban 1999
6 Mohd Yousuf Pak 738 43.19 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003
7 S.R.Tendulkar Ind 735 44.33 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
8 AB de Villiers SA 733! 37.66 733 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
9 Andrew Symonds Aus 730 40.34 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
10 Matthew Hayden Aus 722 43.80 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003
11 H.H.Gibbs SA 718 36.53 750 v SL at Durban 2003
12 Kevin Pietersen Eng 717 47.14 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007
13 K.C.Sangakkara SL 710 36.15 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007
14 Michael Clarke Aus 703 43.40 756 v SL at Melbourne 2008
15 Yuvraj Singh Ind 695 36.38 739 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2006
16 Chris Gayle WI 693 38.84 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006
17 Jacques Kallis SA 688 45.21 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004
18 S.T.Jayasuriya SL 680 32.76 838 v Ban at Pietermaritzburg 2003
19 Shoaib Malik Pak 676 35.75 685 v Ind at Lahore 2006
20 Salman Butt Pak 666 39.88 689 v Ind at Dhaka 2008
Bowlers
Rank Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 Nathan Bracken Aus 769 21.78 4.35 806 v SL at St George's 2007
2 Daniel Vettori NZ 761 31.70 4.17 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008
3 Shane Bond NZ 711 19.32 4.20 811 v SA at St George's 2007
4 M.Muralidaran SL 701 22.86 3.87 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002
5= Chaminda Vaas SL 682 27.42 4.19 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004
Andre Nel SA 682 26.95 4.61 685 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
7 M.G.Johnson Aus 674*! 24.77 4.76 674 v WI at St Kitts 2008
8= Brett Lee Aus 667 22.96 4.71 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006
Jerome Taylor WI 667 27.38 4.68 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008
10 Kyle Mills NZ 663 26.74 4.68 694 v Ban at Queenstown 2007
11 Daren Powell WI 655 31.73 4.60 686 v Aus at St George's 2008
12 Shahid Afridi Pak 654 34.90 4.63 685 v Ind at Dhaka 2008
13 Stuart Broad Eng 648*! 27.59 4.82 648 v Sco at Edinburgh 2008
14 Makhaya Ntini SA 635 24.12 4.46 782 v WI at Cape Town 2004
15 Iftikhar Anjum Pak 632! 32.49 4.87 632 v Ban at Karachi 2008
16 Jacob Oram NZ 627 30.70 4.44 768 v Aus at The Oval 2004
17 Andrew Flintoff Eng 622 24.73 4.35 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
18 Brad Hogg Aus 620 26.84 4.52 687 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
19 M.F.Maharoof SL 618 24.39 4.65 671 v Eng at Dambulla 2007
20 Sohail Tanvir Pak 610* 28.11 4.92 619 v SL at Karachi 2008
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points HS Rating
1 Shoaib Malik Pak 349 402 v WI at Brisbane 2005
2 Jacob Oram NZ 342 353 v Eng at Auckland 2008
3 Jacques Kallis SA 334 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001
4 Shahid Afridi Pak 331 360 v Ind at Dhaka 2008
5= S.T.Jayasuriya SL 329 463 v Pak at Lahore 1997
Chris Gayle WI 329 511 v Zim at Harare 2003
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