West Indies brace for challenge of qualifying direct for ICC WC 2019

The Windies side is currently on 78 points in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings, eight points behind eighth-placed Sri Lanka, whom it will need to overtake in order to qualify. The top seven ODI sides apart from host England as on 30 September qualify direct for ICC’s pinnacle 50-over event, which will take place from 30 May to 15 July 2019 in the United Kingdom.

The 1975 and 1979 champion side will have to beat Ireland and then also defeat England either 5-0 or by a 4-1 margin in which it wins the last four matches. In other words, losing any match other than the opening match against England at Old Trafford on 19 September will allow Sri Lanka a direct passage.

Teams not getting direct places in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 will get another shot through a Qualifying tournament.

The ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 will feature the bottom four sides from the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings, the top four sides from the ICC World Cricket League Championship and the top two sides from ICC World Cricket League Division 2. The top two sides from the World Cup Qualifier will complete the 10-team line-up for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

As for fourth-placed England, it will be able to gain a maximum of one point and reach 114 points, even if it wins the series 5-0. On the other hand, a 5-0 series loss will see it go down to fifth position and 106 points.

In the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings, Joe Root is the leading England batsman in fourth position while Chris Woakes is the leading bowler at 11th place.

For the Windies, Marlon Samuels (43rd) and captain Jason Holder (20th) are the leading batsman and bowler, respectively.

Meanwhile, India hosts Australia for five ODIs from 17 September to 1 October, a series that gives both sides a chance to go atop the rankings table currently led by South Africa with 119 points.

India and Australia are both on 117 points with Australia ahead on decimal points. A win for either side by a margin of 4-1 or better will see it move to number one position.

India v Australia series scenarios:

·        India beats Australia 5-0 – India 122, Australia 113

·        India beats Australia 4-1 – India 120, Australia 114

·        India beats Australia 3-2 – India 118, Australia 116

·        Australia beats India 3-2 – Australia 118, India 116

·        Australia beats India 4-1 – Australia 120, India 114

·        Australia beats India 5-0 – Australia 122, India 112

The ODI rankings predictor function is available here.

India captain Virat Kohli is the number-one ranked batsman in the format with Rohit Sharma (ninth) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (10th) also in the top-10. Left-arm spinner Akshar Patel is ranked 10th among bowlers.

For Australia, opener David Warner is ranked second among batsmen while Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are ranked first and third among bowlers.

Upcoming ODIs:

Ireland v West Indies:

13 September: One-off ODI, Stormont, Belfast

England v West Indies:

19 September: 1st ODI, Old Trafford, Manchester

21 September: 2nd ODI, Trent Bridge, Nottingham

24 September: 3rd ODI, County Ground, Bristol

27 September: 4th ODI, Kennington Oval, London

29 September: 5th ODI, Rose Bowl, Southampton

India v Australia:

17 September: 1st ODI, Chennai

21 September: 2nd ODI, Kolkata

24 September – 3rd ODI, Indore

28 September – 4th ODI, Bengaluru

1 October – 5th ODI, Nagpur

MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 11 September, before Windies’ one-off ODI against Ireland and series against England; India v Australia series):

Rank    Team               Points

1.      South Africa      119

2.      Australia           117

3.      India                 117

4.      England            113

5.      New Zealand     111

6.      Pakistan           95

7.      Bangladesh      94

8.      Sri Lanka          86

9.      West Indies      78

10.   Afghanistan      54

11.   Zimbabwe         52

12.   Ireland              41

(Developed by David Kendix)

MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings (as on 11 September, before Windies’ one-off ODI against Ireland and series against England; India v Australia series):

BATTING (top 10)

Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Avge     Highest Rating

   1          Virat Kohli             Ind          887!       55.75     887 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2017

   2          David Warner       Aus         861         44.72     880 v Pak at Adelaide 2017

   3          AB de Villiers        SA          847         53.55     902 v NZ at Auckland 2015

   4          Joe Root               Eng         799         49.37     806 v NZ at Cardiff 2017

   5          Babar Azam          Pak         786*!      53.88     786 v Ind at The Oval 2017

   6          Kane Williamson   NZ          779         46.98     798 v SA at Centurion 2015

   7          Quinton de Kock  SA          769         43.44     803 v NZ at Wellington 2017

   8          Faf du Plessis       SA          768        43.41     791 v SL at Cape Town 2017

   9          Rohit Sharma       Ind          764        43.46     773 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2017

  10=       MS Dhoni              Ind          749        52.20     836 v Aus at Delhi 2009

OTHER SELECTED RANKINGS

Rank      Player                   Team     Points   Avge     Highest Rating

  13         Steve Smith          Aus         740        44.26     752 v Pak at Sydney 2017

  14         Shikhar Dhawan   Ind          733        44.45     794 v SA at Melbourne 2015

    7         Alex Hales             Eng         678        38.12     705 v NZ at Cardiff 2017

  18         Eoin Morgan         Eng         675        38.73     690 v Aus at The Oval 2010

  19         Jos Buttler             Eng         654        37.27     723 v Ban at Mirpur 2016

  43         Marlon Samuels   WI           561        34.30     631 v SL at St. Vincent 2003

BOWLING (top 10)

Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Avge     Eco.      Highest Rating

   1          Josh Hazlewood   Aus         732!       23.85     4.69       732 v Eng at Edgbaston 2017

   2          Imran Tahir           SA          718         23.87     4.66       786 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

   3          Mitchell Starc        Aus         701         20.13     4.81       783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

   4          Jasprit Bumrah     Ind          687*!      20.87     4.68       687 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2017

   5          Kagiso Rabada     SA          685         26.30     5.11       724 v Eng at Lord's 2017

   6          Trent Boult            NZ          665         25.48     5.00       766 v Ind at Delhi 2016

   7          Hasan Ali              Pak         663*!      22.66     5.47       663 v Ind at The Oval 2017

   8          Sunil Narine          WI           662         26.46     4.12       791 v SL at Jamaica 2013

   9          Rashid Khan         Afg         647*!      14.74     3.97       647 v WI at St Lucia 2017

  10         Akshar Patel         Ind          645*       29.53     4.30       648 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2017

OTHER SELECTED RANKINGS

Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Avge      Eco.      Highest Rating

11           Chris Woakes       Eng         627        31.60      5.58       651 v SA at Headingley 2017

6            Adil Rashid            Eng         608        32.74      5.60       655 v Ban at Chittagong 2016

20=         Jason Holder        WI           592        32.50      5.40       605 v SL at Bulawayo 2016

ALL-ROUNDERS (top five)

Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Highest Rating

   1          Shakib Al Hasan   Ban         353        453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   2          M. Hafeez             Pak         339        438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013

   3          M. Nabi                Afg          329        349 v Ire at Greater Noida 2017

   4          Angelo Mathews   SL           304        427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014

   5          James Faulkner    Aus         299        361 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

Image: ICC website