ICC MEDIA RELEASE
Dubai, 7 February 2008
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori leads the Black Caps in the much-awaited five-match ODI series against England starting in Wellington from Saturday with top spot in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers firmly in his sights.
The 29-year-old from Auckland is just nine ratings points behind team-mate Shane Bond who has been promoted to No 1 position following South Africa ’s Shaun Pollock’s retirement earlier this week.
And with Bond not taking part in the series, Vettori will have an excellent chance to put himself on top of the bowling list, provided he finds the form that has recently eluded him. In the last three series’ against South Africa , Australia and Bangladesh , Vettori has claimed 12 wickets while in the 12 ODIs against England , he has managed only 10 wickets.
Besides Vettori, Kyle Mills is the other New Zealand bowler in the top 10 and will be desperate to at least cement his seventh position if he cannot overtake Australia duo of Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken, and Sri Lanka pair of Muttiah Muralidaran.
Only 20 ratings points separate third-placed Lee from seventh-placed Mills but with the four bowlers also involved in the CB Series in Australia , rankings are likely to change significantly over the next few weeks.
Jacob Oram shares 15th place with England ’s James Anderson and both the fast bowlers will be hoping to make an upward movement.
Flamboyant England batsman Kevin Pietersen will also be targeting a return to the top three in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after losing the top spot to Australia ’s Ricky Ponting following a disappointing home series against the West Indies seven months ago.
Pietersen trails third-placed Graeme Smith of South Africa by five ratings points and is four points adrift of fourth-placed Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan . Both players have no present ODI commitments which means a good performance can help Pietersen leapfrog the two.
New Zealand’s Scott Styris and England’s Ian Bell are the next highest ranked players from the two teams in 22nd and 23 positions respectively while captain Paul Collingwood is in 26th position and Peter Fulton three ratings points behind in 27th spot.
Sri Lanka ’s Sanath Jayasuriya leads England ’s absent star Andrew Flintoff by just one ratings points in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders while Oram trails fifth-placed Chris Gayle by 10 ratings points and has an opportunity to swap places with the West Indies captain.
The middle section of the LG ICC ODI Championship table is quite congested at the moment. With only five ratings points separating third-placed New Zealand from seventh-placed England and all the teams except Pakistan involved in ODI cricket, reshuffling of the pack is very much on the cards.
If New Zealand sweeps the series 5-0, it will earn five ratings points and will sit on 117 ratings points as compared to England ’s 101 ratings points. However, if the result is reversed, New Zealand will slide to 105 ratings points while England will jump to 113 ratings points.
A 4-1 victory will put New Zealand on 115 while England will slip to 104 but a 4-1 win for England will put it on 111 as compared to New Zealand ’s 107.
A 3-2 series win for New Zealand will keep it on 112 while England will drop to 106. However, England will gain a ratings point and New Zealand will concede two ratings points if England wins 3-2.
Overall, the two teams have met 59 times with New Zealand narrowly leading England 28-27. In the 29 ODIs between the two teams in New Zealand , the Black Caps also lead 14-12.
The schedule for the New Zealand– England ODI series is as follows:
9 February – first ODI, Wellington
12 February– second ODI, Hamilton
15 February– third ODI, Auckland
20 February – fourth ODI, Napier
23 February – fifth ODI, Christchurch
LG ICC ODI Championship (as of 7 February 2008)
Rank Team Points
1 Australia 130
2 South Africa 127
3 New Zealand 112
4 India 110
5 Pakistan 109
6 Sri Lanka 108
7 England 107
8 West Indies 96
9 Bangladesh 47
10 Ireland 28
11 Zimbabwe 18
12 Kenya 0
LG ICC ODI Rankings (as of 7 February 2008)
Batsmen
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 Ricky Ponting Aus 822 44.22 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007
2 Andrew Symonds Aus 772 41.35 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
3 Graeme Smith SA 753 39.80 784 v Ind at Kolkata 2005
4 Mohd Yousuf Pak 752 43.07 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003
5 Kevin Pietersen Eng 748 49.77 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007
6 Matthew Hayden Aus 741 44.20 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003
7 H.H.Gibbs SA 731 36.73 750 v SL at Durban 2003
8 Mike Hussey Aus 727 57.34 863 v NZ at Perth 2007
9 S.R.Tendulkar Ind 726 44.21 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
10 S.Chanderpaul WI 721 39.62 754 v SA at Durban 1999
11 MS Dhoni Ind 713 44.89 806 v WI at Kingston 2006
12 Adam Gilchrist Aus 709 35.94 820 v SL at Dambulla 2004
13 AB de Villiers SA 703 36.39 730 v NZ at Durban 2007
14 Michael Clarke Aus 701 44.54 750 v Ind at Bangalore 2007
15 Yuvraj Singh Ind 700 36.67 739 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2006
16 Jacques Kallis SA 698 45.21 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004
17 R.R.Sarwan WI 692 44.55 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006
18 Chris Gayle WI 690 39.02 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006
19 S.T.Jayasuriya SL 676 32.63 838 v Ban at Pietermaritzburg 2003
20 K.C.Sangakkara SL 671 35.60 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007
Bowlers
Rank Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 Shane Bond NZ 755 19.32 4.20 811 v SA at St George's 2007
2 Daniel Vettori NZ 746 32.34 4.20 767 v Eng at Perth 2007
3 Brett Lee Aus 714 22.54 4.69 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006
4 Nathan Bracken Aus 713 23.13 4.44 806 v SL at St George's 2007
5 M.Muralidaran SL 712 22.70 3.85 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002
6 Chaminda Vaas SL 701 27.10 4.19 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004
7 Kyle Mills NZ 694! 25.92 4.63 694 v Ban at Queenstown 2007
8 Daren Powell WI 673! 29.96 4.58 673 v SA at Johannesburg 2008
9 M.F.Maharoof SL 661 23.88 4.65 671 v Eng at Dambulla 2007
10 Jerome Taylor WI 660 27.17 4.74 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008
11 Brad Hogg Aus 654 26.70 4.53 687 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
12 Andrew Flintoff Eng 650 25.10 4.37 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
13 Makhaya Ntini SA 645 24.12 4.46 782 v WI at Cape Town 2004
14 Lasith Malinga SL 641 25.13 4.74 687 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2007
15= Jacob Oram NZ 629 30.47 4.50 766 v Aus at The Oval 2004
James Anderson Eng 629 27.94 4.80 689 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
17 C.R.D.Fernando SL 625 28.94 5.17 628 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2007
18 Andre Nel SA 624 28.34 4.68 672 v Ind at Stormont 2007
19 Abdur Razzak Ban 616 23.95 4.09 711 v Eng at Bridgetown 2007
20 Peter Ongondo Ken 610! 25.14 4.34 610 v Ber at Nairobi 2007
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points HS Rating
1 S.T.Jayasuriya SL 355 463 v Pak at Lahore 1997
2 Andrew Flintoff Eng 354 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004
3 Shoaib Malik Pak 347 403 v WI at Brisbane 2005
4 Jacques Kallis SA 344 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001
5 Chris Gayle WI 335 511 v Zim at Harare 2003
Dubai, 7 February 2008
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori leads the Black Caps in the much-awaited five-match ODI series against England starting in Wellington from Saturday with top spot in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers firmly in his sights.
The 29-year-old from Auckland is just nine ratings points behind team-mate Shane Bond who has been promoted to No 1 position following South Africa ’s Shaun Pollock’s retirement earlier this week.
And with Bond not taking part in the series, Vettori will have an excellent chance to put himself on top of the bowling list, provided he finds the form that has recently eluded him. In the last three series’ against South Africa , Australia and Bangladesh , Vettori has claimed 12 wickets while in the 12 ODIs against England , he has managed only 10 wickets.
Besides Vettori, Kyle Mills is the other New Zealand bowler in the top 10 and will be desperate to at least cement his seventh position if he cannot overtake Australia duo of Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken, and Sri Lanka pair of Muttiah Muralidaran.
Only 20 ratings points separate third-placed Lee from seventh-placed Mills but with the four bowlers also involved in the CB Series in Australia , rankings are likely to change significantly over the next few weeks.
Jacob Oram shares 15th place with England ’s James Anderson and both the fast bowlers will be hoping to make an upward movement.
Flamboyant England batsman Kevin Pietersen will also be targeting a return to the top three in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after losing the top spot to Australia ’s Ricky Ponting following a disappointing home series against the West Indies seven months ago.
Pietersen trails third-placed Graeme Smith of South Africa by five ratings points and is four points adrift of fourth-placed Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan . Both players have no present ODI commitments which means a good performance can help Pietersen leapfrog the two.
New Zealand’s Scott Styris and England’s Ian Bell are the next highest ranked players from the two teams in 22nd and 23 positions respectively while captain Paul Collingwood is in 26th position and Peter Fulton three ratings points behind in 27th spot.
Sri Lanka ’s Sanath Jayasuriya leads England ’s absent star Andrew Flintoff by just one ratings points in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders while Oram trails fifth-placed Chris Gayle by 10 ratings points and has an opportunity to swap places with the West Indies captain.
The middle section of the LG ICC ODI Championship table is quite congested at the moment. With only five ratings points separating third-placed New Zealand from seventh-placed England and all the teams except Pakistan involved in ODI cricket, reshuffling of the pack is very much on the cards.
If New Zealand sweeps the series 5-0, it will earn five ratings points and will sit on 117 ratings points as compared to England ’s 101 ratings points. However, if the result is reversed, New Zealand will slide to 105 ratings points while England will jump to 113 ratings points.
A 4-1 victory will put New Zealand on 115 while England will slip to 104 but a 4-1 win for England will put it on 111 as compared to New Zealand ’s 107.
A 3-2 series win for New Zealand will keep it on 112 while England will drop to 106. However, England will gain a ratings point and New Zealand will concede two ratings points if England wins 3-2.
Overall, the two teams have met 59 times with New Zealand narrowly leading England 28-27. In the 29 ODIs between the two teams in New Zealand , the Black Caps also lead 14-12.
The schedule for the New Zealand– England ODI series is as follows:
9 February – first ODI, Wellington
12 February– second ODI, Hamilton
15 February– third ODI, Auckland
20 February – fourth ODI, Napier
23 February – fifth ODI, Christchurch
LG ICC ODI Championship (as of 7 February 2008)
Rank Team Points
1 Australia 130
2 South Africa 127
3 New Zealand 112
4 India 110
5 Pakistan 109
6 Sri Lanka 108
7 England 107
8 West Indies 96
9 Bangladesh 47
10 Ireland 28
11 Zimbabwe 18
12 Kenya 0
LG ICC ODI Rankings (as of 7 February 2008)
Batsmen
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 Ricky Ponting Aus 822 44.22 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007
2 Andrew Symonds Aus 772 41.35 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
3 Graeme Smith SA 753 39.80 784 v Ind at Kolkata 2005
4 Mohd Yousuf Pak 752 43.07 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003
5 Kevin Pietersen Eng 748 49.77 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007
6 Matthew Hayden Aus 741 44.20 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003
7 H.H.Gibbs SA 731 36.73 750 v SL at Durban 2003
8 Mike Hussey Aus 727 57.34 863 v NZ at Perth 2007
9 S.R.Tendulkar Ind 726 44.21 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
10 S.Chanderpaul WI 721 39.62 754 v SA at Durban 1999
11 MS Dhoni Ind 713 44.89 806 v WI at Kingston 2006
12 Adam Gilchrist Aus 709 35.94 820 v SL at Dambulla 2004
13 AB de Villiers SA 703 36.39 730 v NZ at Durban 2007
14 Michael Clarke Aus 701 44.54 750 v Ind at Bangalore 2007
15 Yuvraj Singh Ind 700 36.67 739 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2006
16 Jacques Kallis SA 698 45.21 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004
17 R.R.Sarwan WI 692 44.55 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006
18 Chris Gayle WI 690 39.02 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006
19 S.T.Jayasuriya SL 676 32.63 838 v Ban at Pietermaritzburg 2003
20 K.C.Sangakkara SL 671 35.60 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007
Bowlers
Rank Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 Shane Bond NZ 755 19.32 4.20 811 v SA at St George's 2007
2 Daniel Vettori NZ 746 32.34 4.20 767 v Eng at Perth 2007
3 Brett Lee Aus 714 22.54 4.69 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006
4 Nathan Bracken Aus 713 23.13 4.44 806 v SL at St George's 2007
5 M.Muralidaran SL 712 22.70 3.85 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002
6 Chaminda Vaas SL 701 27.10 4.19 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004
7 Kyle Mills NZ 694! 25.92 4.63 694 v Ban at Queenstown 2007
8 Daren Powell WI 673! 29.96 4.58 673 v SA at Johannesburg 2008
9 M.F.Maharoof SL 661 23.88 4.65 671 v Eng at Dambulla 2007
10 Jerome Taylor WI 660 27.17 4.74 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008
11 Brad Hogg Aus 654 26.70 4.53 687 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
12 Andrew Flintoff Eng 650 25.10 4.37 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
13 Makhaya Ntini SA 645 24.12 4.46 782 v WI at Cape Town 2004
14 Lasith Malinga SL 641 25.13 4.74 687 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2007
15= Jacob Oram NZ 629 30.47 4.50 766 v Aus at The Oval 2004
James Anderson Eng 629 27.94 4.80 689 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
17 C.R.D.Fernando SL 625 28.94 5.17 628 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2007
18 Andre Nel SA 624 28.34 4.68 672 v Ind at Stormont 2007
19 Abdur Razzak Ban 616 23.95 4.09 711 v Eng at Bridgetown 2007
20 Peter Ongondo Ken 610! 25.14 4.34 610 v Ber at Nairobi 2007
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points HS Rating
1 S.T.Jayasuriya SL 355 463 v Pak at Lahore 1997
2 Andrew Flintoff Eng 354 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004
3 Shoaib Malik Pak 347 403 v WI at Brisbane 2005
4 Jacques Kallis SA 344 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001
5 Chris Gayle WI 335 511 v Zim at Harare 2003