Clean sweep will send England to third place

ICC MEDIA RELEASE

Dubai, 18 November 2009

But Proteas will view series as a chance to close the gap on Australia

Graeme Smith has opportunity to put pressure on MS Dhoni and Michael Hussey in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen while Dale Steyn and Johan Botha will look to secure their top 20 status in the bowler rankings

Second-placed South Africa and England, in sixth position, start a five-match ODI series on Friday in which all-out victory over the Proteas would see the host slip to fifth in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table and England rise to third.

But if Graeme Smith’s side manages to win the series 5-0 it will close the gap between it and Australia to just two points. However, if the Proteas win 3-2, their victory margin will not be enough to maintain second place and they will slip to third behind India.

If Andrew Strauss’ side was to win the series 3-2 then it would rise to fifth in the rankings and South Africa would drop to third, again providing India with second place.

No victory scenario can see either team putting any pressure on the current table toppers Australia.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, Smith is still the highest-ranked player of either side. Placed in third, he will be looking to put pressure on the top two-placed batsmen, India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Australia’s Michael Hussey.

Further down the top 20, South Africa’s AB de Villiers (fifth), Jacques Kallis (10^th) and England’s Kevin Pietersen (17^th) and Paul Collingwood (18^th) will be hoping for a strong series to further secure their places among the top ODI batsmen in the world.

Knocking on the door of the top 20 is South Africa’s JP Duminy who is currently placed 22^nd in the rankings. Another series of good performances with the bat could see the Capetonian rise up the table.

South Africa’s Dale Steyn will be looking to work his way up from sixth place in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers and put some pressure on the likes of leader New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and second-placed Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh.

The only other South African in the top 20 is vice-captain Johan Botha who currently sits in joint 13^th place with ICC Cricketer of the Year, Australia’s Mitchell Johnson.

England has two players ranked in the top 20 of the bowler rankings, but Stuart Broad, currently ranked 15^th, is unlikely to play in the opening match of the series with a shoulder injury and the next highest ranked being Andrew Flintoff at 18^th, who is missing this series due to injury.

Further down the table, James Anderson (21^st) and Graeme Swann (53^rd) are both carrying injuries and are not certainties for the opening fixture at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Friday.

South Africa’s Charl Langeveldt is currently placed 37^th while team-mate Roelof van der Merwe is sitting in 57^th spot. Both will be hoping for a good series to push them up the rankings, especially fast bowler Langeveldt who recently returned to the Proteas side after a 19-month absence.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders the table is still topped by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, but Kallis, who currently sits in fourth place, will be hoping to rise back up the table.

The schedule for the series is as follows:

20 Nov – First ODI, Johannesburg

22 Nov – Second ODI, Centurion

27 Nov – Third ODI, Cape Town

29 Nov – Fourth ODI, Port Elizabeth

4 Dec – Fifth ODI, Durban

Reliance Mobile ODI Championship (as of 18 November)

Rank Team Rating

1 Australia 130

2 South Africa 122

3 India 122

4 New Zealand 112

5 Pakistan 108

6 England 106

7 Sri Lanka 106

8 West Indies 76

9 Bangladesh 55

10 Zimbabwe 26

11 Ireland 25

12 Kenya 2

Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Rankings (as of 18 November)

Batsmen

Rank Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating

1 MS Dhoni Ind 817 50.04 837 v Aus at Delhi 2009

2 Mike Hussey Aus 801 54.07 865 v NZ at Perth 2007

3 Graeme Smith SA 749 41.07 785 v Ind at Kolkata 2005

4 Ricky Ponting Aus 738 43.19 831 v NZ at Hobart 2007

5= AB de Villiers SA 736 39.29 750 v NZ at Centurion 2009

Chris Gayle WI 736 39.94 808 v Zim at Harare 2003

7 S Chanderpaul WI 733 41.66 778 v Eng at Guyana 2009

8 Yuvraj Singh Ind 732 37.44 786 v WI at Kingston 2009

9 S Tendulkar Ind 729 44.50 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998

10 Jacques Kallis SA 706 45.25 818 v WI at Johannesburg 2004

11 V. Sehwag Ind 683 33.98 787 v NZ at Auckland 2003

12 Herschelle Gibbs SA 682 36.30 752 v SL at Durban 2003

13 M Yousuf Pak 672 42.79 779 v Zim at Harare 2002

14 B McCullum NZ 666! 29.42 666 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2009

15 Michael Clarke Aus 659 42.62 751 v SL at Melbourne 2008

16 K Sangakkara SL 654 35.79 755 v Pak at Colombo (RPS) 2006

17 Kevin Pietersen Eng 653 46.67 842 v Aus at Antigua 2007

18 P Collingwood Eng 641 35.12 670 v NZ at Bristol 2008

19= S Jayasuriya SL 638 32.54 841 v Ban at Pietermaritzburg 2003

G Gambhir Ind 638 37.03 702 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2009

Bowlers

Rank Player Team Pts Avge Econ HS Rating

1 Daniel Vettori NZ 719 31.71 4.15 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008

2 Shakib Al Hasan Ban 716! 30.36 4.03 716 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

3 Ray Price Zim 701*! 33.57 3.73 701 v SA at Centurion 2009

4 N Kulasekara SL 687 27.41 4.50 727 v NZ at Colombo (RPS) 2009

5 Kyle Mills NZ 685 26.45 4.68 723 v Aus at Melbourne 2009

6 Dale Steyn SA 659* 27.15 5.20 662 v Zim at Benoni 2009

7 Shane Bond NZ 652 20.87 4.28 810 v SA at St George's 2007

8= Shahid Afridi Pak 636 34.52 4.61 667 v Ind at Dhaka 2008

Harbhajan Singh Ind 636 32.97 4.27 738 v WI at Bridgetown 2002

10 Ajantha Mendis SL 635* 16.36 4.14 642 v SA at Centurion 2009

11= Jacob Oram NZ 630 30.76 4.37 770 v Aus at The Oval 2004

M Muralidaran SL 630 22.98 3.91 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002

13= M Johnson Aus 629 26.18 4.98 729 v Ban at Darwin 2008

Johan Botha SA 629 40.20 4.51 665 v Aus at Centurion 2009

15 Stuart Broad Eng 627 26.59 5.13 703 v SA at Trent Bridge 2008

16 Nathan Bracken Aus 626 24.36 4.41 808 v SL at St George's 2007

17 Nathan Hauritz Aus 622*! 30.29 4.30 622 v Ind at Guwahati 2009

18 Andrew Flintoff Eng 617 24.38 4.39 758 v Ban at Dhaka 2003

19 M Mortaza Ban 612 29.82 4.57 653 v Zim at Dhaka 2009

20 Saeed Ajmal Pak 610*! 27.51 3.92 610 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2009

All-rounders

Rank Player Team Pts HS Rating

1 Shakib Al Hasan Ban 453! 453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

2 Shane Watson Aus 355! 355 v Ind at Guwahati 2009

3 Yuvraj Singh Ind 337 356 v Aus at Delhi 2009

4 Jacques Kallis SA 331 506 v WI at Bridgetown 2001

5= Shahid Afridi Pak 321 352 v Ken at Nairobi 2002

Jacob Oram NZ 321 383 v WI at Queenstown 2008