New Zealand, South Africa and England aim to improve their ODI rankings

Third-ranked New Zealand is on 112 points and trails world champion and number-one ranked Australia by 16 points. This means it will gain points if it wins the series.

A 3-0 series win will lift New Zealand to 115 points while a 2-1 series win will take it to 114 points. In contrast, if it loses 3-0, then it will slip to 110 points whereas a 2-1 series loss will mean both sides will retain their pre-series points.
 
Australia, in contrast, will retain its number-one position irrespective of how the series pans out. It will rise to as high as 130 points if it wins the series 3-0 but will drop to 124 points if New Zealand wins all the three matches.

Fourth-ranked South Africa and sixth-ranked England will be keeping an eye on the series in New Zealand as they too have an opportunity to move up the ladder when their series also starts on 3 February in Bloemfontein.

A 5-0 win for the home side will mean it will rise to 115 points, while England will drop to 98 points. However, if the series result is reversed, then England will move to 106 points with South Africa finishing just a point ahead on 107.

If England wins the series 3-2, then it will earn one point while South Africa will concede two points. A 3-2 series win for South Africa will mean both the sides will retain their pre-series points.

Meanwhile, South Africa captain AB de Villiers will start the forthcoming series as the number-one ranked batsman on the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen. His team-mate Hashim Amla is third, 124 points behind.

Other players inside the top 20 to feature in the series in New Zealand and South Africa, and aiming for an upward movement, include Kane Williamson (fourth), Glenn Maxwell (eighth), Martin Guptill (ninth), Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock (joint-10th), Ross Taylor (12th), George Bailey (14th), Steve Smith (15th), Aaron Finch (16th), Joe Root (17th), David Warner (18th) and Jos Buttler (19th).

New Zealand’s Trent Boult will start off as the number-one ranked bowler, with South Africa’s Imran Tahir, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in fourth, fifth and sixth positions, respectively.

In the absence of Mitchell Starc, James Faulkner is the highest-ranked Australia bowler in 28th spot, while John Hastings is 49th, Josh Hazlewood (61st) and Maxwell (62nd).

England’s highest-ranked bowler is Moeen Ali in 14th place, while Chris Woakes is sitting in 40th position.

Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh is the number-one ranked all-rounder, while Maxwell is in fourth position – 13 points behind Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan.
 
The player rankings will now be updated following the conclusion of South Africa-England series.

Forthcoming matches:

New Zealand v Australia

3 Feb – 1st ODI, Auckland

6 Feb – 2nd ODI, Wellington

8 Feb – 3rd ODI, Hamilton

 

South Africa v England

3 Feb – 1st ODI, Bloemfontein

6 Feb – 2nd ODI, Port Elizabeth

9 Feb – 3rd ODI, Centurion

12 Feb – 4th ODI, Johannesburg

14 Feb – 5th ODI, Cape Town

 

MRF TYRES ICC ODI Championship (as of 1 February, following New Zealand and Pakistan series and before the start of New Zealand-Australia and South Africa-England series)

 

Rank   Team              Ratings

1.      Australia          128

2.      India                113

3.      New Zealand  112

4.      South Africa   112

5.      Sri Lanka         104

6.      England           101

7.      Bangladesh     97

8.      Pakistan           87

9.      West Indies     86

10.  Afghanistan    47

11.  Ireland             46

12.  Zimbabwe       45

 

MRF TYRES ICC ODI PLAYER RANKING (as of 1 February, following New Zealand and Pakistan series and before the start of New Zealand-Australia seriesand South Africa-England series)

 

Batsmen (top 10)

 

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Pts          Ave         HS Rating

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

   2           ( - )          Virat Kohli            Ind          825         51.51     886 v Ban at Fatullah 2014

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

   4           ( - )          Kane Williamson NZ          771         47.84     798 v SA at Centurion 2015

   5           ( - )          Rohit Sharma       Ind          761!       42.08     761 v Aus at Sydney 2016

   6           ( - )          T. Dilshan              SL           760         39.44     802 v Sco at Hobart 2015

   7           ( - )          Shikhar Dhawan  Ind          748         43.97     794 v SA at Melbourne 2015

   8           ( - )          Glenn Maxwell     Aus         731         36.25     735 v Ind at Canberra 2016

   9           ( - )          Martin Guptill       NZ          725!       42.78     725 v Pak at Auckland 2016

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

                (+1)         Quinton de Kock SA           715         39.86     749 v Aus at Sydney 2014

 

Other selected rankings

 

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Pts          Ave         HS Rating

12           (-2)          Ross Taylor          NZ          713         43.90     743 v Zim at Harare 2015

  14         ( - )          George Bailey       Aus         704         43.21     867 v SA at Harare 2014

  15         ( - )          Steve Smith          Aus         702         41.65     709 v Ind at Canberra 2016

  16         ( - )          Aaron Finch          Aus         694         38.48     743 v Eng at Melbourne 2015

  17         ( - )          Joe Root                                Eng         675         41.90     712 v NZ at Trent Bridge 2015

  18         ( - )          David Warner       Aus         666!       37.67     666 v Ind at Sydney 2016

  19         ( - )          Jos Buttler             Eng         662         34.97     680 v NZ at Edgbaston 2015

  23         ( - )          Eoin Morgan        Ire/Eng   643         37.83     690 v Aus at The Oval 2010

  29         (+1)         James Faulkner    Aus         598*      39.85     628 v Eng at Perth 2015

  30         (-2)          B. McCullum        NZ          596         30.27     685 v Eng at Auckland 2013

  33         ( - )          David Miller          SA           592         34.98     635 v Ban at Mirpur 2015

  35         (+1)         James Taylor        Eng         576*      42.23     586 v Pak at Sharjah 2015

  36         (+1)         JP Duminy            SA           573         38.98     668 v Net at Mohali 2011

  42         (+1)         Mitchell Marsh     Aus         546*!    38.00     546 v Ind at Sydney 2016

  45         (+1)         Corey Anderson   NZ          541*      34.39     604 v Ind at Hamilton 2014

 

Bowlers (top 10)

 

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

1              ( - )          Trent Boult           NZ          722*      22.74     4.72       738 v Eng at The Oval 2015

   2           ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        699         27.89     4.30       717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   3           ( - )          Mitchell Starc       Aus         695         19.65     4.85       783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

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

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

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

   7           ( - )          Matt Henry           NZ          653*!    22.62     5.33       653 v Pak at Auckland 2016

   8           ( - )          Saeed Ajmal         Pak         636         22.73     4.18       810 v SA at Centurion 2013

   9           ( - )          James Anderson  Eng         621         29.22     4.92       719 v SA at The Oval 2013

  10         ( - )          Mohammad Irfan               Pak         616         31.14     4.91       641 v UAE at Napier 2015

 

Other selected rankings

 

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

14          ( - )          Moeen Ali             Eng         585*!    36.42     4.81       585 v Pak at Dubai 2015

28           ( - )          James Faulkner    Aus         545         32.36     5.60       585 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

33           (+7)         Adam Milne         NZ          536*!    38.37     5.05       536 v Pak at Auckland 2016

37           (-2)          Tim Southee         NZ          526         31.98     5.34       638 v Eng at Wellington 2015

40           (-1)          Chris Woakes       Eng         516         34.27     5.79       524 v Pak at Sharjah 2015

47           (-5)          Wahab Riaz         Pak         491         31.42     5.55       522 v Eng at Abu Dhabi 2015

49           ( - )          John Hastings       Aus         485*!    33.42     4.83       485 v Ind at Sydney 2016

 

All-rounders (top five)

 

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Pts          HS Rating

  1            ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        416        453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   2           ( - )          M. Hafeez             Pak         363        438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013

   3           ( - )          T. Dilshan              SL           349        415 v Sco at Hobart 2015

   4           ( - )          Glenn Maxwell     Aus         336        351 v Eng at Headingley 2015

   5           ( - )          Angelo Mathews  SL           335        427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014