Black Caps can rise to fourth place but could slip to as low as eighth in series with the West Indies
New Zealand can climb one place to fourth in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Champ
ionship table but could drop to as low as eighth when it goes head to head with the West Indies in the five-match ODI series starting in Queenstown on Wednesday.Daniel Vettori’s side currently sits in fifth place on 113 ratings points and a 5-0 series win will put it ahead of Pakistan in fourth place on 118 points. A 4-1 series win will also be enough for the Black Caps to improve upon their current standing.
However, if the 5-0 series result goes the other way, New Zealand will concede 11 ratings points and the West Indies will gain 11 points. This will put both the teams level on 102 ratings points but Chris Gayle’s side will be placed higher than the Black Caps in seventh place when ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.
New Zealand starts the series with a difference of 22 rating points relative to eighth-placed West Indies and this gap means it is expected to win the series convincingly. As such, because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, failure to win comfortably will mean the Black Caps will drop points.
These are the potential scenarios:
· If New Zealand wins the series 5-0, it will leapfrog Pakistan into fourth place on 118 points and just one point behind South Africa and India while the West Indies will stay in eighth place but will drop to 86 ratings points
· If New Zealand wins the series 4-1, it will join Pakistan on 114 ratings points but will be ahead of Shoaib Malik’s side by a fraction of a point. The West Indies will drop to 90 ratings points
· If New Zealand wins the series 3-2, will concede two ratings points but will stay ahead of sixth-placed England while the West Indies will rise to 93 ratings points
· If the West Indies wins the series 3-2, New Zealand will drop below England to sixth place by a fraction of a point. In contrast, the West Indies will stay in eighth place but will jump to 96 ratings points
· If the West Indies wins the series 4-1, New Zealand will fall behind Sri Lanka in seventh place on 105 ratings points while the West Indies will rise to 99 ratings points
· A 5-0 series win for the West Indies will mean both the sides will sit on 102 ratings points but New Zealand will be behind the men from the Caribbean by a fraction of a point
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, the West Indies boasts three batsmen – Shivnarine Chanderpaul (fifth), Chris Gayle (sixth) and Ramnaresh Sarwwan (13th) – in the top 20 while the highest-ranked New Zealand batsman is Ross Taylor in 29th position.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is still out in front, followed very closely behind by Michael Hussey of Australia and South Africa’s Graeme Smith.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has top-ranked Nathan Bracken of Australia firmly within his sights. A good series for the left-arm spinner can potentially help him regain the top spot which he last enjoyed in June against England at Lord’s.
Besides Vettori, fast bowler Kyle Mills (fifth) and Jacob Oram (eighth) will also be eyeing an upward movement.
For the West Indies, Fidel Edwards (eighth) and Daren Powell (19th) are in the top 20 and will be hoping to make a charge up the ladder.
Oram leads the field in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders and will be hoping to consolidate his position ahead of England’s Andrew Flintoff. Rival captains Gayle is third while Vettori is 12th.
New Zealand v West Indies ODI series schedule:
31 Dec – First ODI, Queenstown
3 Jan – Second ODI, Christchurch
7 Jan – Third ODI, Wellington
10 Jan – Fourth ODI, Auckland
13 Jan – Fifth ODI, Napier
Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship (as of 29 December)
Rank Team Rating
1 Australia 131
2 South Africa 119
3 India 119
4 Pakistan 114
5 New Zealand 113
6 England 108
7 Sri Lanka 107
8 West Indies 91
9 Bangladesh 47
10 Ireland 19
11 Zimbabwe 13
12 Kenya 11
ICC One-Day Rankings (as of 29 December)
Batsmen
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 MS Dhoni Ind 779 46.84 806 v WI at Kingston 2006
2 Mike Hussey Aus 776 57.13 863 v NZ at Perth 2007
3 Graeme Smith SA 760 40.88 792 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
4 S.Chanderpaul WI 752 40.84 764 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2008
5 Chris Gayle WI 747 40.06 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006
6 Yuvraj Singh Ind 744 37.16 754 v Eng at Bangalore 2008
7 Ricky Ponting Aus 740 43.24 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007
8 Kevin Pietersen Eng 730 48.36 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007
9 Mohd Yousuf Pak 727 43.19 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003
10 Andrew Symonds Aus 719 40.34 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
11 Matthew Hayden Aus 711 43.80 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003
12 Sachin Tendulkar Ind 708 44.26 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
13 R Sarwan WI 691 44.17 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006
14 AB de Villiers SA 689 36.40 733 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
15 K Sangakkara SL 687 36.07 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007
16 Herschelle Gibbs SA 682 36.18 750 v SL at Durban 2003
17 Jacques Kallis SA 679 45.27 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004
18 Michael Clarke Aus 677 42.46 756 v SL at Melbourne 2008
19 Shoaib Malik Pak 674 35.61 690 v WI at Abu Dhabi 2008
20 Yunus Khan Pak 673 ! 34.50 673 v WI at Abu Dhabi 2008
Bowlers
Rank Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 Nathan Bracken Aus 755 21.87 4.33 806 v SL at St George's 2007
2 Daniel Vettori NZ 733 32.05 4.17 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008
3 M Muralidaran SL 717 22.69 3.87 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002
4 M Johnson Aus 707 23.46 4.72 726 v Ban at Darwin 2008
5 Kyle Mills NZ 697 ! 26.00 4.63 697 v Ban at Chittagong 2008
6= Stuart Broad Eng 673 27.58 4.94 701 v SA at Trent Bridge 2008
Sohail Tanvir Pak 673*! 26.00 4.81 673 v WI at Abu Dhabi 2008
8= Jacob Oram NZ 664 30.14 4.39 768 v Aus at The Oval 2004
Jerome Taylor WI 664 26.46 4.68 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008
10 Andrew Flintoff Eng 662 24.69 4.38 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
11 Zaheer Khan Ind 660 28.63 4.84 700 v SA at Dhaka 2003
12 Brett Lee Aus 657 22.96 4.71 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006
13 Chaminda Vaas SL 655 27.54 4.18 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004
14 N Kulasekara SL 652*! 28.64 4.28 652 v Zim at Harare 2008
15 Shahid Afridi Pak 644 35.04 4.63 685 v Ind at Dhaka 2008
16 Andre Nel SA 638 27.68 4.63 685 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
17 Stuart Clark Aus 632*! 27.82 4.90 632 v Ban at Darwin 2008
18 Iftikhar Anjum Pak 626 31.53 4.90 632 v Ban at Karachi 2008
19 Daren Powell WI 621 32.57 4.68 686 v Aus at St George's 2008
20 Harbhajan Singh Ind 617 32.97 4.19 735 v WI at Bridgetown 2002
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points HS Rating
1 Jacob Oram NZ 383! 383 v Ban at Chittagong 2008
2 Andrew Flintoff Eng 366 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004
3= Chris Gayle WI 342 511 v Zim at Harare 2003
Shoaib Malik Pak 342 402 v WI at Brisbane 2005
5 Jacques Kallis SA 327 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001
ICC MEDIA RELEASE