Australia puts its number-one ranking on the line as WC starts on Saturday

Australia will feature on the opening day of the tournament on 14 February in Melbourne when it locks horns with England, which currently sits in fifth position. Earlier on the same day in Christchurch, co-host and sixth-ranked New Zealand will go head to head with former champion and fourth-placed Sri Lanka, with just five ratings points separating the two sides.

Australia enjoys a comfortable six-point advantage over its closest rival and defending champion India, which squares off against traditional rival and seventh-ranked Pakistan in Adelaide. Also on Sunday, 15 February in Hamilton, third-ranked South Africa takes on continental rival Zimbabwe, which is currently sitting in 10th position and trailing the title favourites by 55 ratings points.

Two-time former champion and eight-ranked West Indies will meet 12th-ranked Ireland in Nelson on Monday, 16 February with 60 ratings points separating the two sides.

Australia had also started as the top-ranked side in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in the subcontinent. However, it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side that lifted the trophy in Mumbai after entering the competition in second position and 12 ratings points behind Australia.

Australia not only has the home advantage this time around, it is also enjoying a winning momentum, having won 17 ODIs with just five defeats and one no-result since January 2014. However, this dominance is not as strongly reflected in the Reliance ICC ODI Players Rankings which includes five Australia batsmen (George Bailey (11th), Aaron Finch (12th), Glenn Maxwell (17th), Shane Watson (19th) and James Faulkner (22nd)) and two bowlers (Mitchell Johnson (fifth) and Mitchell Starc (seventh)) inside the top 25.

Australia batsmen sitting just outside the top 25 are captain Michael Clarke (27th), David Warner (28th) and Steven Smith (29th).

Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are India’s highest-ranked batsman and bowler in third and 13th positions, respectively. Other India batsmen to feature inside the top 25 include Shikhar Dhawan (seventh), Dhoni (ninth), Rohit Sharma (13th) and Suresh Raina (25th). Apart from Kumar, India boasts Ravindra Jadeja (14th), Ravichandran Ashwin (21st) and Mohammad Shami (24th) inside the top 25.

South Africa also has a notable presence in the Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings.

Captain AB de Villiers leads the batting table, closely followed by Hashim Amla with Quinton de Kock (10th) and Faf du Plessis (20th). Dale Steyn will start as the highest-ranked bowler in the bowler in tournament in third position, followed by Morne Morkel (10th) and Imran Tahir (11th).

New Zealand has played 14 ODIs in the past couple of months and has won nine matches. This is also reflected in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings with Kane Williamson (sixth) and Ross Taylor (eighth) featuring the top 10 of the batting table and Kyle Mills (20th) and Daniel Vettori (23rd), who is playing in his fifth Cricket World Cup, occupying positions inside the top 25 bowlers.

Joe Root is England’s highest-ranked batsman in 14th position, while James Anderson is sitting in fifth position on the bowlers’ chart. Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq is his country’s highest-ranked batsman in 14th position, while 15th-ranked Mohammad Irfan will spearhead the bowling attack.

Sri Lanka’s old war horses, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena, who will retire at the end of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, will begin in fourth and 22nd position, respectively, with Tillakaratne Dilshan (fifth) and captain Angelo Mathews (16th) sitting between the two batting stars. Rangana Herath (eighth), Sachithra Senanayake (17th) and Mathews (22nd) are the top-ranked Sri Lanka bowlers.

Among the four qualifiers, Ireland’s Paul Stirling will start as the highest-ranked batsman in 36th position, while Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi is the highest-ranked bowler and all-rounder in 31st and eighth spots, respectively.

To find out exactly how the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will affect the Rankings Table, please click here. The ODI table is updated after every match.

Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 12 February 2015, before the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015)

Rank   Team                          Ratings points

1          Australia                      120

2          India                            114

3          South Africa               113

4          Sri Lanka                     108

5          England                       104

6          New Zealand              103

7          Pakistan                       95

8          West Indies                 94

9          Bangladesh                 75

10        Zimbabwe                   53

11        Afghanistan                41

12        Ireland                         34

(Developed by David Kendix)                         

Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings (as on 12 February 2015, before the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

Batsmen

Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

   1           AB de Villiers        SA           891        52.16     899 v WI at East London 2015

   2           Hashim Amla       SA           867         56.41     901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012

   3           Virat Kohli            Ind          831         51.50     886 v Ban at Fatullah 2014

   4           K. Sangakkara     SL           823         40.99     853 v Afg at Mirpur 2014

   5           T. Dilshan              SL           785!       39.00     785 v NZ at Wellington 2015

   6           Kane Williamson NZ          784!       46.26     784 v Pak at Napier 2015

   7           Shikhar Dhawan  Ind          725         42.75     785 v SL at Hyderabad 2014

   8           Ross Taylor          NZ          722!       41.99     722 v Pak at Napier 2015

  9           MS Dhoni              Ind          721         52.29     836 v Aus at Delhi 2009

  10         Quinton de Kock SA           720*      42.45     749 v Aus at Sydney 2014

  11         George Bailey       Aus         717         41.74     867 v SA at Harare 2014

  12         Aaron Finch          Aus         680*      37.10     692 v Ind at Sydney 2015

  13         Rohit Sharma       Ind          674         38.90     684 v Aus at Melbourne 2015

  14=       Misbah-ul-Haq    Pak         664         42.99     744 v SL at Fatullah 2014

                Joe Root                                Eng         664         40.00     688 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2014

  16         Angelo Mathews  SL           662         40.31     707 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014

  17         Glenn Maxwell     Aus         644*!    30.67     644 v Eng at Perth 2015

  18         Ahmed Shehzad  Pak         643         34.82     670 v Ban at Mirpur 2014

  19         Shane Watson      Aus         636         40.57     773 v SL at Hambantota 2011

  20         Faf du Plessis        SA           630         33.84     703 v NZ at Bay Oval 2014

  21         M. Hafeez             Pak         629         31.10     665 v Ban at Mirpur 2014

  22=       M. Jayawardena  SL           628         33.48     738 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2001

                James Faulkner    Aus         628*!    48.12     628 v Eng at Perth 2015

  24         Jos Buttler             Eng         625         31.63     633 v Ind at Perth 2015

  25         Suresh Raina        Ind          623         35.44     669 v Eng at Dharamsala 2013

Bowlers

Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

   1           Saeed Ajmal         Pak         744         22.18     4.13       810 v SA at Centurion 2013

   2           Sunil Narine          WI          734         26.49     4.10       791 v SL at Jamaica 2013

   3           Dale Steyn            SA           724         25.14     4.80       746 v Ind at Durban 2013

   4           James Anderson  Eng         706         28.84     4.90       719 v SA at The Oval 2013

   5           Mitchell Johnson Aus         683         25.50     4.82       724 v Ban at Darwin 2008

   6           Shakib Al Hasan Ban        680         27.92     4.26       717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   7           Mitchell Starc       Aus         636*      21.27     5.00       647 v Ind at Sydney 2015

   8=        M. Hafeez             Pak         629         35.01     4.06       769 v Ind at Kolkata 2013

                Rangana Herath  SL           629         31.07     4.40       703 v SA at Pallekele 2013

  10         Morne Morkel      SA           628         24.69     4.95       717 v SL at East London 2012

  11         Imran Tahir          SA           625*      20.23     4.39       631 v WI at East London 2015

  12         Steven Finn           Eng         624         28.41     4.87       755 v NZ at Auckland 2013

  13         B. Kumar              Ind          620         37.15     4.62       657 v WI at Dharamsala 2014

  14         Ravindra Jadeja  Ind          618         32.76     4.81       738 v Zim at Bulawayo 2013

  15         Mohammad Irfan               Pak         614         29.92     4.90       621 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014

  16=       James Tredwell    Eng         613         27.81     4.77       646 v SL at Pallekele 2014

                Shahid Afridi        Pak         613         33.96     4.62       673 v Ban at Mirpur 2011

  18         S. Senanayake     SL           610         34.77     4.69       656 v NZ at Christchurch 2015

  19         Clint McKay         Aus         609         24.37     4.78       709 v Eng at Cardiff 2013

  20         Kyle Mills              NZ          605         27.02     4.72       722 v Aus at Melbourne 2009

  21=       M. Mortaza          Ban        600         30.51     4.67       653 v Zim at Mirpur 2009

                R. Ashwin              Ind          600         32.64     4.90       691 v SL at Hambantota 2012

  23         Daniel Vettori       NZ          595        32.30     4.13       788 v Eng at Durham 2008

  24=       Angelo Mathews  SL           593         34.79     4.52       649 v Ind at Trinidad 2013

                M. Shami              Ind          593        26.74     5.67       636 v WI at Delhi 2014

                Kemar Roach       WI          593         26.85     4.90       650 v Pak at St Lucia 2013

All-rounders

Rank      Player                   Team     Points    HS Rating

   1           Shakib Al Hasan Ban        403        453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   2           M. Hafeez             Pak         396        438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013

   3           Angelo Mathews  SL           393        427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014

   4           T. Dilshan              SL           389        407 v NZ at Hamilton 2015

   5           Shahid Afridi        Pak         348        383 v Ban at Mirpur 2011

   6           James Faulkner    Aus         327*/!   327 v Eng at Perth 2015

   7           Ravindra Jadeja  Ind          319        378 v Eng at Edgbaston 2013

   8           M. Nabi                 Afg         290        296 v Ire at Dubai (GCA) 2015

   9           Shane Watson      Aus         275        433 v WI at St Lucia 2012

  10         Glenn Maxwell     Aus         270*/*! 270 v Eng at Perth 2015