England denied chance to go second in Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship by rain in Cardiff; Clark's rise means Australia now boasts four quick bowlers in top 20
How they’ve missed him. It will come as a surprise to few people that England’s resurgence as a formidable force in ODI cricket has coincided with the return to form of its inspirational all-rounder, And
rew Flintoff, who has rocketed back into the top 10 in the latest Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers released today (Thursday).Looking at the statistics for the recent ODI series with South Africa , Flintoff appears at the top of almost every bowling category. He took the most wickets (10) at the lowest average (12.90) with the most niggardly economy rate (4.20) and the most penetrative strike-rate (18.40) of anyone who bowled more than five overs in the series.
His 3-21 in the fourth ODI at Lord’s helped to secure a 4-0 lead in the series and third place for England in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship.
After that victory, Kevin Pietersen’s team moved ahead of New Zealand by a fraction of a ratings point but rain at Cardiff denied England the chance of sweeping the series and thus moving ahead of the second-placed Proteas in the rankings.
Having moved up five places, Flintoff is now in eighth position in the bowling rankings, just behind Chaminda Vaas in seventh place and Muttiah Muralidaran in sixth.
Staying with the bowlers, Australia ’s Mitchell Johnson has moved up two places to third in the ODI rankings following strong performances in the first two ODIs against Bangladesh in Darwin .
The 26-year-old Queenslander had combined figures of 5-27 in those matches and now enjoys the highest rating of his career to date but he is still a long way behind Daniel Vettori of New Zealand in second position and Australia ’s Nathan Bracken at the top.
It’s looking good for the state of Australian fast bowling as a third player, Stuart Clark, has also registered his best rating to date. With Brett Lee currently in 10th place, Australia now has four quicks in the top 20.
Clark has risen 12 places into the top 20 for the first time and now sits in joint-19th position, level with Pakistan ’s Sohail Tanvir, who has benefited from the fact that South Africa ’s Makhaya Ntini has slipped three places and out of the top 20.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, Michael Hussey is up two places to second position ahead of the injured duo of Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith. Hussey now sits just a single place behind number-one ODI batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni of India .
A player who is making the most of an opportunity afforded to him by a couple of injuries in the Australia camp is Shaun Marsh. The 25-year-old West Australian has scored 145 runs in his two Darwin outings so far and, as a result, has leaped no fewer than 91 places in the batting rankings. He is now sitting in 74th position, just behind the ICC Associate ODI Player of the Year 2007, Thomas Odoyo from Kenya .
In what is bad news for a defeated South Africa team, Jacques Kallis has slipped out of the top five in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders. His place has been taken by Chris Gayle of the West Indies and the list is still headed by that man, Andrew Flintoff.
Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table (as of 4 September 2008)
Rank Team Rating
1 Australia 130
2 South Africa 118
3 England 116
4 New Zealand 116
5 India 113
6 Pakistan 110
7 Sri Lanka 105
8 West Indies 95
9 Bangladesh 46
10 Ireland 22
11 Zimbabwe 16
12 Kenya 0
ICC One-Day Rankings (as of 4 September 2008)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) MS Dhoni Ind 793 47.41 806 v WI at Kingston 2006
2 (+2) Mike Hussey Aus 767 55.81 863 v NZ at Perth 2007
3 (-1) Graeme Smith SA 764 40.69 792 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
4 (-1) Ricky Ponting Aus 744 43.24 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007
5 ( - ) Mhd Yousuf Pak 738 43.19 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003
6 ( - ) S.Chanderpaul WI 733 40.49 754 v SA at Durban 1999
7 ( - ) Kevin Pietersen Eng 730 47.83 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007
8 (+1) S.R.Tendulkar Ind 724 44.33 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
9 (-1) Andrew Symonds Aus 723 40.34 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
10 ( - ) Matthew Hayden Aus 714 43.80 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003
11= (+1) H.H.Gibbs SA 700 36.31 750 v SL at Durban 2003
(+1) Chris Gayle WI 700 39.38 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006
13 (+1) AB de Villiers SA 687 36.09 733 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
14 (-3) Michael Clarke Aus 682 42.65 756 v SL at Melbourne 2008
15 ( - ) K.C.Sangakkara SL 680 35.66 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007
16 ( - ) Shoaib Malik Pak 676 35.75 685 v Ind at Lahore 2006
17 ( - ) S.T.Jayasuriya SL 675 32.69 838 v Ban at Pietermaritzburg 2003
18 ( - ) Yuvraj Singh Ind 673 35.91 739 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2006
19 (+2) R.R.Sarwan WI 667 43.87 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006
20 (+2) 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 764 21.75 4.34 806 v SL at St George's 2007
2 ( - ) Daniel Vettori NZ 761 31.70 4.17 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008
3 (+2) M.G.Johnson Aus 726*! 23.26 4.66 726 v Ban at Darwin 2008
4 (-1) Shane Bond NZ 711 19.32 4.20 811 v SA at St George's 2007
5 (-1) Stuart Broad Eng 684* 26.21 4.77 701 v SA at Nottingham 2008
6 (-1) M.Muralidaran SL 674 23.03 3.88 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002
7 ( - ) Chaminda Vaas SL 672 27.54 4.18 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004
8 (+5) Andrew Flintoff Eng 668 23.99 4.35 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
9 ( - ) Kyle Mills NZ 663 26.74 4.68 694 v Ban at Queenstown 2007
10 (-2) Brett Lee Aus 660 22.96 4.71 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006
11 ( - ) Jerome Taylor WI 656 27.04 4.67 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008
12 ( - ) Shahid Afridi Pak 654 34.90 4.63 685 v Ind at Dhaka 2008
13 (-3) Andre Nel SA 651 27.68 4.63 685 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
14 ( - ) Zaheer Khan Ind 637 28.82 4.84 700 v SA at Dhaka 2003
15= ( - ) Daren Powell WI 632 32.18 4.63 686 v Aus at St George's 2008
( - ) Iftikhar Anjum Pak 632 ! 32.49 4.87 632 v Ban at Karachi 2008
17 ( - ) Jacob Oram NZ 627 30.70 4.44 768 v Aus at The Oval 2004
18 ( - ) Brad Hogg Aus 614 26.84 4.52 687 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
19= (+12) Stuart Clark Aus 610*! 28.72 4.94 610 v Ban at Darwin 2008
(+1) Sohail Tanvir Pak 610* 28.11 4.92 619 v SL at Karachi 2008
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 ( - ) Andrew Flintoff Eng 375 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004
2 ( - ) Shoaib Malik Pak 349 402 v WI at Brisbane 2005
3 ( - ) Jacob Oram NZ 342 353 v Eng at Auckland 2008
4 ( - ) Shahid Afridi Pak 331 360 v Ind at Dhaka 2008
5 (+1) Chris Gayle WI 323 511 v Zim at Harare 2003
ICC MEDIA RELEASE