Vettori and Oram now top of world rankings
Vettori and Oram grab top bowling and all-rounders’ spots as Gilchrist leaps to second in batting ladder of LG ICC ODI Player Rankings
Harbhajan and Johnson enter top 20 but Anderson drops out; Tendulkar rises as Dhoni and Yuvraj slide; time running out for teams as seedings cut-off date for ICC Champions Trophy 2008 approaches fast
New Zealand duo of Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram grabbed top bowling and all-rounders spots and Australia’s Adam Gilchirst rocketed 10 places to second position in the batting chart of the LG ICC ODI Player Rankings as the Black Caps’ series against England and the tri-series in Australia both reached the halfway stage after Friday’s matches.
Vettori achieved his career-best ranking after the Auckland match which England won by six wickets to reduce the deficit to 2-1 in the five-match series. Vettori, who has so far taken four wickets in the series, had started in second place behind team-mate Shane Bond who is not taking part in the series.
Vettori leads Australia’s third-placed Nathan Bracken by 37 ratings points after the left-arm fast bowler also improved his ranking by one spot following good performance in the ongoing tri-series that also involves India and Sri Lanka.
After the halfway stage in the tri-series, Bracken is the leading wicket-taker with 10. Bracken’s new ball partner Brett Lee is the second most successful bowler with eight wickets but has dropped two places and now shares fifth place with Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralidaran.
Australia spinner Brad Hogg has returned to the top 10 after climbing one place but his fellow left-armer Mitchell Johnson has taken a bigger jump by shooting up 16 places to a career-best 12th position, a spot he shares with Sri Lanka’s Farveez Maharoof who slid three places from ninth.
Johnson has picked up seven wickets in Australia’s four matches to date and is close to entering the top 10. If he maintains his good form over the next couple of weeks, he could rise to as high as fifth by the end of the series.
Harbhajan Singh is India’s only bowler in the top 20 after improving five positions to 18th spot.
England is now without a bowler in the top 20 after James Anderson slipped five places to 21st. However, Anderson has a chance to get back into the top 20 if he produces good performances in the remaining two matches next week.
The positive news for Paul Collingwood’s side is that its young fast bowler Stuart Broad is making good upward progress. The 21-year-old Leicestershire bowler has jumped 18 places to 30th position after being England’s leading wicket-taker in the series with six to date.
India’s 19-year-old fast bowler Ishant Sharma continues to make significant improvement on his first tour. The Delhi-born pacer has carried his good Test form into the ODI series and after claiming six wickets in four ODIs, has shot up 96 places to 154th position.
In the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Gilchrist has climbed 10 places to second position after a superb 118 in Perth. Gilchrist, who will retire from international cricket after the series, is now the second leading run-getter in the series behind India’s Gautam Gambir with 193 runs.
Gilchrist led the batting chart numerous times between 2004 and 2006 but dropped out of the top 10 before the start of the current series. He now has a realistic chance of signing off on the top as he trails an out-of-form Ricky Ponting by 50 points.
Gilchrist’s rise means two of the most charismatic batsmen in world cricket today have slipped down the leader board.
Australia’s Andrew Symonds has dropped three places to fifth while England’s Kevin Pietersen has lost four places to share ninth spot with South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs.
India’s little master Sachin Tendulkar continues to head in the right direction and has climbed two places to seventh position. Tendulkar has a good opportunity to rise further in the list as only 23 points separate second-placed Gilchrist from Pietersen and Gibbs who share ninth place.
However, Tendulkar’s team-mates Mahindra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh have lost ground and have dropped to 13th and 19th positions respectively. Gambhir has improved his position by two places and currently sits in 35th place.
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara has improved four places to 16th spot while Collingwood’s match-winning effort in Auckland has lifted him three places to 23rd. Collingwood’s team-mate Ian Bell is the second highest ranked England batsman after Pietersen in 21st position after improving by one place.
In the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders, Oram has achieved a career-best rating and has leaped five places to the top of the table after scoring 88 runs in the Auckland match and taking two wickets in series so far.
Oram leapfrogged Shoaib Malik of Pakistan, Jacques Kallis of South Africa, Andrew Flintoff of England and Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya.
Vettori has joined rival captain Collingwood in the top 10 while Symonds has dropped out of top 10 after falling two places. Vettori rises two places to 10th position while Collingwood improves his ninth position by one place.
In the LG ICC ODI Championship, Australia is still at the top of the table, leading South Africa by three ratings points.
New Zealand is third, three ratings points ahead of fourth-placed India while Sri Lanka is another two ratings points adrift in sixth-place. England, after winning the third ODI in Auckland, is seventh on 106 ratings points and has a chance to collect more ratings points if it wins the next two matches in Napier (20 February) and Christchurch (23 February).
With just seven ratings points currently separating New Zealand in third position and England in seventh, the competition is going to be fierce over the coming weeks to see who finishes where.
This will become particularly significant as we approach 12 March, which is the cut-off date for the determination of seedings for the ICC Champions Trophy 2008. Wherever the top eight teams sit on that date will dictate the make-up of the two groups for the big event, which is set to take place in Pakistan this September.
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Remaining matches:
17 February – 7th match, Australia v India, Adelaide
19 February – 8th match, India v Sri Lanka, Adelaide
20 February – 4th ODI, New Zealand v England, Napier
22 February – 9th match, Australia v Sri Lanka, Melbourne
23 February – 5th ODI, New Zealand v England, Christchurch
24 February – 10th match, Australia v India, Sydney
26 February – 11th match, India v Sri Lanka, Hobart
29 February – 12th match, Australia v Sri Lanka, Melbourne
2 March – 1st final, Sydney
4 March – 2nd final, Brisbane
7 March – 3rd final, if required, Adelaide
LG ICC ODI Championship (as of 15 February, after match number six in CB Series, third match in New Zealand – England Series)
Rank Team Points
1 Australia 130
2 South Africa 127
3 New Zealand 113
4 India 110
5 Pakistan 109
6 Sri Lanka 108
7 England 106
8 West Indies 96
9 Bangladesh 47
10 Ireland 28
11 Zimbabwe 18
12 Kenya 0
(Developed by David Kendix)
LG ICC One-Day Rankings (as of 15 February, after match number six in CB Series, third match in New Zealand – England Series)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) Ricky Ponting Aus 804 43.86 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007
2 (+10) Adam Gilchrist Aus 754 36.22 820 v SL at Dambulla 2004
3 ( - ) Graeme Smith SA 753 39.80 784 v Ind at Kolkata 2005
4 ( - ) Mohd Yousuf Pak 752 43.07 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003
5 (-3) Andrew Symonds Aus 744 40.54 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
6 ( - ) Matthew Hayden Aus 734 43.74 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003
7 (+2) S.R.Tendulkar Ind 733 44.18 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
8 ( - ) Mike Hussey Aus 732 56.91 863 v NZ at Perth 2007
9= (-2) H.H.Gibbs SA 731 36.73 750 v SL at Durban 2003
(-4) Kevin Pietersen Eng 731 48.33 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007
11 (-1) S.Chanderpaul WI 721 39.62 754 v SA at Durban 1999
12 (+2) Michael Clarke Aus 720 45.04 750 v Ind at Bangalore 2007
13 (-2) MS Dhoni Ind 710 44.94 806 v WI at Kingston 2006
14 (-1) AB de Villiers SA 703 36.39 730 v NZ at Durban 2007
15 (+1) Jacques Kallis SA 698 45.21 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004
16 (+4) K.C.Sangakkara SL 696 35.75 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007
17 ( - ) R.R.Sarwan WI 692 44.55 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006
18 ( - ) Chris Gayle WI 690 39.02 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006
19 (-4) Yuvraj Singh Ind 680 36.25 739 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2006
20= (-1) S.T.Jayasuriya SL 661 32.50 838 v Ban at Pietermaritzburg 2003
(+1) M.Jayawardena SL 661 33.15 737 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2001
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 (+1) Daniel Vettori NZ 780! 32.03 4.17 780 v Eng at Auckland 2008
2 (-1) Shane Bond NZ 744 19.32 4.20 811 v SA at St George's 2007
3 (+1) Nathan Bracken Aus 743 22.30 4.42 806 v SL at St George's 2007
4 (+2) Chaminda Vaas SL 702 27.16 4.19 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004
5= ( - ) M.Muralidaran SL 684 22.92 3.86 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002
(-2) Brett Lee Aus 684 22.73 4.70 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006
7 (+1) Daren Powell WI 673! 29.96 4.58 673 v SA at Johannesburg 2008
8 (-1) Kyle Mills NZ 664 26.82 4.65 694 v Ban at Queenstown 2007
9 (+1) Jerome Taylor WI 660 27.17 4.74 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008
10 (+1) Brad Hogg Aus 658 26.55 4.51 687 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
11 (+4) Jacob Oram NZ 653 30.61 4.46 768 v Aus at The Oval 2004
12= (-3) M.F.Maharoof SL 651 24.25 4.68 671 v Eng at Dambulla 2007
(+16) M.G.Johnson Aus 651*! 22.97 4.75 651 v SL at Perth 2008
14 (-1) Makhaya Ntini SA 645 24.12 4.46 782 v WI at Cape Town 2004
15 (-3) Andrew Flintoff Eng 641 25.10 4.37 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
16 (-2) Lasith Malinga SL 633 25.08 4.81 687 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2007
17 (+1) Andre Nel SA 624 28.34 4.68 672 v Ind at Stormont 2007
18 (+5) Harbhajan Singh Ind 618 33.28 4.16 735 v WI at Bridgetown 2002
19= ( - ) Abdur Razzak Ban 616 23.95 4.09 711 v Eng at Bridgetown 2007
(-2) C.R.D.Fernando SL 616 28.94 5.17 628 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2007
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Rating
1 (+5) Jacob Oram NZ 353! 353 v Eng at Auckland 2008
2 (+1) Shoaib Malik Pak 347 402 v WI at Brisbane 2005
3= (+1) Jacques Kallis SA 344 505 v WI at Bridgetown 2001
(-1) Andrew Flintoff Eng 344 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004
5 (-4) S.T.Jayasuriya SL 340 463 v Pak at Lahore 1997
*Indicates a provisional rating
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