England out to defend top spot in ICC rankings
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 hosts England would be looking to maintain their position at the top of the ICC ODI Team Rankings in upcoming matches that include a high-profile five-ODI series against World champions Australia.
England take on Scotland at Edinburgh on Sunday before playing at home against their arch-rivals from 13 to 24 June, a series that will help the teams’ preparations for the mega event that runs from 30 May to 14 July next year at 11 venues across England and Wales.
Though Lord’s, where the two sides are slated to meet in their World Cup league match on 25 June next year, is not a venue, the series will provide both sides an opportunity to gauge the conditions as the countdown begins to the 10-team event.
England, who overtook India to grab the top ODI spot after the annual update on 2 May, are comfortably ahead of Australia and will remain at the top even if they lose the Australia series by a 2-3 margin provided they win the one-off match against Scotland. However, in such a scenario, they will be tied with India on 122 points and ahead only on decimal points.
On the other hand, if England kick off with a loss to Scotland, they will have to win the series against fifth-ranked Australia or else lose the top position to India, who are presently three points behind England at 122 points. A 2-3 loss to Australia in such a scenario will see them slide to 120 points. If England lose to Scotland, they will start the Australia series with 123 points while Scotland, who last week made it to the expanded 16-team points table, will gain five points and move up to 33 points.
Australia will not be able to overtake the opposition even if England lose all their six upcoming matches but Australia could go up to third position if they complete a 5-0 whitewash over England.
Scenarios of England-Australia series if England beat Scotland:
- England win 5-0 – England 128 points, Australia 100 points
- England win 4-1 – England 126, Australia 103
- England win 3-2 – England 124, Australia 105
- Australia win 3-2 – England 122, Australia 108
- Australia win 4-1 – England 120, Australia 111
- Australia win 5-0 – England 118, Australia 113
Scenarios of England-Australia series if England lose to Scotland:
- England win 5-0 – England 126 points, Australia 100 points
- England win 4-1 – England 124, Australia 103
- England win 3-2 – England 123, Australia 105
- Australia win 3-2 – England 120, Australia 108
- Australia win 4-1 – England 118, Australia 110
- Australia win 5-0 – England 116, Australia 113
The ODI team rankings, unlike the Test rankings, are updated after each match. The ICC ODI predictor function is available here.
In the ICC ODI Player Rankings, England’s Test captain Joe Root is the top-ranked batsman from either side at fourth position. His team-mates Jos Buttler (19th) and Ben Stokes (21st), Australia’s Travis Head (23rd) and Scotland’s Kyle Coetzer (22nd) will be the other leading batsmen figuring in upcoming ODIs. England pace bowler Liam Plunkett will be the leading bowler in 19th position.
ALSO READ: Pakistan guard against complacency against Scotland
Schedule:
England v Scotland:
10 June – One-off ODI, Grange Cricket Club, Edinburgh
England v Australia series:
13 June – 1st ODI, The Oval, London
16 June – 2nd ODI, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
19 June – Trent Bridge, Nottingham
21 June – Riverside, Chester-le-Street
24 June – Old Trafford, Manchester
ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 8 June):
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | England | 125 |
| 2 | India | 122 |
| 3 | South Africa | 113 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 112 |
| 5 | Australia | 104 |
| 6 | Pakistan | 102 |
| 7 | Bangladesh | 93 |
| 8 | Sri Lanka | 77 |
| 9 | Windies | 69 |
| 10 | Afghanistan | 63 |
| 11 | Zimbabwe | 55 |
| 12 | Ireland | 38 |
| 13 | Scotland | 28 |
| 14 | UAE | 18 |
*Nepal and the Netherlands will qualify for a full ranking after playing four more matches each
ICC ODI Player Rankings (as on 8 June, before the one-off match between England and Scotland):
BATSMEN (top 20)
| Rank | Player | Team | Points | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 1 | Virat Kohli | Ind | 909! | 58.1 | 909 v SA at Centurion 2018 |
| 2 | AB de Villiers | SA | 844 | 53.5 | 902 v NZ at Auckland 2015 |
| 3 | David Warner | Aus | 823 | 43.43 | 880 v Pak at Adelaide 2017 |
| 4 | Joe Root | Eng | 814 | 51.16 | 819 v Aus at Brisbane 2018 |
| 5 | Babar Azam | Pak | 813 | 51.11 | 846 v NZ at Wellington 2018 |
| 6 | Rohit Sharma | Ind | 799 | 44.55 | 825 v SL at Mohali 2017 |
| 7 | Ross Taylor | NZ | 785 | 46.28 | 789 v Eng at Dunedin 2018 |
| 8 | Quinton de Kock | SA | 783 | 45.41 | 808 v Ban at East London 2017 |
| 9 | Faf du Plessis | SA | 782 | 44.68 | 802 v Ind at Durban 2018 |
| 10 | Kane Williamson | NZ | 778 | 46.87 | 798 v SA at Centurion 2015 |
| 11 | Shikhar Dhawan | Ind | 769 | 45.9 | 794 v SA at Melbourne 2015 |
| 12 | Hashim Amla | SA | 746 | 50.23 | 901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012 |
| 13 | Martin Guptill | NZ | 731 | 42.99 | 789 v SA at Hamilton 2017 |
| 14 | Aaron Finch | Aus | 724 | 38.55 | 744 v Eng at Melbourne 2015 |
| 15 | MS Dhoni | Ind | 717 | 51.37 | 836 v Aus at Delhi 2009 |
| 16= | Tamim Iqbal | Ban | 698 | 34.98 | 721 v Zim at Mirpur 2018 |
| Jonny Bairstow | Eng | 698*! | 48.36 | 698 v NZ at Christchurch 2018 | |
| 18 | Steve Smith | Aus | 692 | 41.84 | 752 v Pak at Sydney 2017 |
| 19 | Jos Buttler | Eng | 674 | 38.05 | 723 v Ban at Mirpur 2016 |
| 20 | Mushfiqur Rahim | Ban | 652 | 32.99 | 671 v Zim at Mirpur 2015 |
BOWLERS (top 20)
| Rank | Player | Team | Points | Avge | Highest Rating | |
| 1 | Jasprit Bumrah | Ind | 787*! | 22.5 | 787 v SA at Centurion 2018 | |
| 2 | Rashid Khan | Afg | 763* | 14.4 | 787 v Zim at Sharjah 2018 | |
| 3 | Josh Hazlewood | Aus | 714 | 24.27 | 733 v Eng at Adelaide 2018 | |
| 4 | Hasan Ali | Pak | 711* | 21.4 | 766 v NZ at Wellington 2018 | |
| 5 | Trent Boult | NZ | 699 | 24.63 | 766 v Ind at Delhi 2016 | |
| 6 | Imran Tahir | SA | 683 | 24.81 | 786 v SL at Johannesburg 2017 | |
| 7 | Kagiso Rabada | SA | 679 | 27.57 | 724 v Eng at Lord’s 2017 | |
| 8 | Chris Woakes | Eng | 673 ! | 30.77 | 673 v NZ at Christchurch 2018 | |
| 9 | Y. Chahal | Ind | 667*! | 21.83 | 667 v SA at Centurion 2018 | |
| 10 | Mitchell Starc | Aus | 658 | 20.95 | 783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015 | |
| 11 | Adil Rashid | Eng | 653 | 32.27 | 655 v Ban at Chittagong 2016 | |
| 12 | Mitchell Santner | NZ | 632 | 33.91 | 663 v Eng at Hamilton 2018 | |
| 13 | Kuldeep Yadav | Ind | 628* | 20.02 | 637 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2018 | |
| 14 | Akshar Patel | Ind | 624* | 31.31 | 663 v Aus at Nagpur 2017 | |
| 15 | Pat Cummins | Aus | 623 | 28.45 | 626 v Eng at Adelaide 2018 | |
| 16 | Mohammad Nabi | Afg | 611 | 31.95 | 653 v Zim at Harare 2017 | |
| 17 | Matt Henry | NZ | 606 | 24.59 | 675 v Aus at Hamilton 2016 | |
| 18= | M. Rahman | Ban | 601* | 19.19 | 602 v Zim at Mirpur 2018 | |
| Liam Plunkett | Eng | 601 | 30.22 | 646 v Win at Southampton 2017 | ||
| 20 | Tim Murtagh | Ire | 597 | 33.16 | 613 v Zim at Harare 2018 | |
ALL-ROUNDERS (top 5)
| Rank | Player | Teams | Points | Highest Rating |
| 1 | S. Al Hasan | Ban | 359 | 453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009 |
| 2 | M. Hafeez | Pak | 339 | 438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013 |
| 3 | M. Nabi | Afg | 323 | 349 v Ire at Greater Noida 2017 |
| 4 | M. Santner | NZ | 317! | 317 v Eng at Christchurch 2018 |
| 5 | C. Woakes | Eng | 312 | 312 v NZ at Christchurch 2018 |
*Indicates a provisional rating
! Indicates career-best rating
(Developed by David Kendix)