Pakistan takes on England with one eye on ICC Cricket World Cup 2019

Eighth-ranked Pakistan is currently sitting on 88 points as compared to sixth-ranked England’s 100 points. With England, plus seven other top-ranked sides as on 30 September 2017, set to qualify directly for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, the only way Pakistan can move up the order is by winning matches against the higher-ranked sides.

As such, a 4-0 series win against England will earn Pakistan five points, while a 3-1 victory will mean a gain of three rankings points. It will earn only one point if the series ends in a two-all draw.

An England series win will mean Pakistan will lose points. If England sweeps the series, like it did in 2012, then Pakistan will drop to 86 points, while it will concede one point if England wins 3-1.

As far as England is concerned, it can rise to as high as102 points, but will slip behind Bangladesh in seventh place by a fraction of a point, if it loses 4-0 and Bangladesh wins the third ODI against Zimbabwe on Monday.

Pakistan’s last series win against England was on home turf in December 2005 when it won 3-2.

The series permutations are:

Pakistan 4 England 0 – Pakistan 93 points England 95 points

Pakistan 3 England 1 – Pakistan 91 points England 96 points

Pakistan 2 England 2 – Pakistan 89 points England 99 points

Pakistan 1 England 3 – Pakistan 87 points England 101 points

Pakistan 0 England 4 – Pakistan 86 points England 102 points

In the ICC ODI Player Rankings, no batsman from either side features in the top 10. Joe Root is the highest-ranked batsman in 11th position, followed by captain Eoin Morgan (21st) and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler (23rd).

Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez is 30th, while Ahmed Shehzad is 32nd.

AB de Villiers of South Africa is the number-one ranked batsman, while Virat Kohli of India is second and Kane Williamson of New Zealand third.

In the bowling chart, Pakistan’s Mohammad Irfan, in 14th place, is the highest-ranked bowler from either side, followed by Moeen Ali of England (31st) and Wahab Riaz (49th).

Sunil Narine of the West Indies is the top-ranked bowler and he is followed by Mitchell Starc of Australia and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan.

Meanwhile, the recently-concluded series between Sri Lanka and West Indies has resulted in gains for a number of players.

In the batting table, Marlon Samuels has moved up three places to 34th and Kusal Perera has climbed seven places to 43rd, while in the bowling, Suranga Lakmal has achieved a career-best ranking of 23rd after rising six places and Lasith Malinga has vaulted four places to 24th.

The 3-0 series win as earned Sri Lanka five points and it is now on 105 points, while the West Indies has slipped to 86 after dropping two points.

Series schedule

Pakistan v England (all day/night matches)

11 November – 1st ODI, Abu Dhabi

13 November – 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi

17 November – 3rd ODI, Sharjah

20 November – 4th ODI, Dubai

ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 9 November, after SL-WI series, before BD-Zim third ODI and before the start of Pak-Eng series)

Rank   Team               Points

1          Australia          127

2          India                114

3          South Africa    112

4          New Zealand   109

5          Sri Lanka         105

6          England           100

7          Bangladesh      96

8          Pakistan           88

9          West Indies      86

10        Zimbabwe        46

11        Ireland             46

12        Afghanistan     45

(Developed by David Kendix)

ICC T20I Player Rankings (as on 9 November, after SL-WI series, before BD-Zim third ODI and before the start of Pak-Eng series)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Avge      HS Ranking

   1           ( - )          AB de Villiers        SA           900        54.21     902 v NZ at Auckland 2015

   2           ( - )          Virat Kohli            Ind          804        50.60     886 v Ban at Fatullah 2014

   3           ( - )          Kane Williamson NZ          788        48.02     798 v SA at Centurion 2015

   4           ( - )          T. Dilshan              SL           780        39.62     802 v Sco at Hobart 2015

   5           ( - )          Hashim Amla       SA           776        52.70     901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012

   6           ( - )          MS Dhoni              Ind          741        52.26     836 v Aus at Delhi 2009

   7           ( - )          Shikhar Dhawan  Ind          730        42.93     794 v SA at Melbourne 2015

   8           ( - )          Ross Taylor          NZ          728        43.91     743 v Zim at Harare 2015

   9           ( - )          Glenn Maxwell     Aus         717        34.88     724 v Pak at Adelaide 2015

  10=       ( - )          Faf du Plessis        SA           715!       39.65     715 v Ind at Mumbai 2015

                ( - )          Quinton de Kock SA           715        39.86     749 v Aus at Sydney 2014

  Selected Rankings:

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Avge      HS Ranking

  15         ( - )          Joe Root                Eng         680        42.36     712 v NZ at Trent Bridge 2015

  20         (+1)         Angelo Mathews  SL          643        39.94     707 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014

  21         (-1)          Eoin Morgan        Ire/Eng   641        37.81     690 v Aus at The Oval 2010

  23         ( - )          Jos Buttler             Eng         627        32.60     680 v NZ at Edgbaston 2015

  30         ( - )          M. Hafeez             Pak         599        31.58     665 v Ban at Mirpur 2014

  32         (+1)         Ahmed Shehzad  Pak         596        34.81     670 v Ban at Mirpur 2014

  33         (-3)          L. Thirimanne      SL           595        34.65     599 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015

  34         (+3)         Marlon Samuels  WI          593        34.08     631 v SL at St. Vincent 2003

  43         (+7)         Kusal Perera         SL           547!       27.36     547 v WI at Pallekele 2015

  45         (-1)          Andre Russell       WI          542        28.97     571 v NZ at St Kitts 2012

  50         (-6)          Darren Bravo       WI          536        32.15     588 v Ind at Kanpur 2013

Bowling

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Pts         Avge     Econ     HS Ranking

   1           ( - )          Sunil Narine          WI          734        26.05     4.07       791 v SL at Jamaica 2013

   2           ( - )          Mitchell Starc       Aus         713        19.65     4.85       783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

   3           ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan  Ban         706        27.89     4.30       717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   4           ( - )          Trent Boult           NZ          705*      24.08     4.64       738 v Eng at The Oval 2015

   5           ( - )          Imran Tahir          SA           688        22.94     4.49       735 v SL at Sydney 2015

   6           ( - )          Dale Steyn            SA           682        25.93     4.86       746 v Ind at Durban 2013

   7           ( - )          M. Johnson           Aus         672        25.26     4.83       724 v Ban at Darwin 2008

   8           ( - )          Morne Morkel      SA           666        23.98     4.90       717 v SL at East London 2012

   9           ( - )          Saeed Ajmal         Pak         655        22.73     4.18       810 v SA at Centurion 2013

  10         ( - )          R. Ashwin              Ind          640        31.27     4.81       691 v SL at Hambantota 2012

Selected Rankings:

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Pts         Avge     Econ     Highest Ranking

  14=       (+1)         Mohammad Irfan Pak       597        31.63     4.90       641 v UAE at Napier 2015

  16         (-2)          S. Senanayake     SL           596        34.94     4.74       656 v NZ at Christchurch 2015

  23         (+6)         Suranga Lakmal  SL           560        29.71     5.56       563 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015

  24         (+4)         Lasith Malinga     SL           557        27.77     5.26       675 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2007

  26         (-2)          Jason Holder        WI          555        32.12     5.68       576 v UAE at Napier 2015

  29         (-6)          Angelo Mathews  SL          554        34.77     4.61       649 v Ind at Trinidad 2013

  31         (+1)         Moeen Ali             Eng         544*      38.40     4.86       554 v Aus at Headingley 2015

  32         (-1)          Ravi Rampaul     WI          542        29.35     5.10       628 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2011

  44         ( - )          Jerome Taylor      WI          496*      27.33     6.29       626 v NZ at Christchurch 2009

  49         ( - )          Wahab Riaz         Pak         486        29.67     5.57       501 v Zim at Lahore 2015

All-rounders

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Highest Ranking

   1           ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban         424        453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   2           ( - )          T. Dilshan            SL          366        415 v Sco at Hobart 2015

   3           ( - )          Angelo Mathews  SL          356        427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014