South Africa retains No. 1 ODI ranking After annual updat

Dubai: South Africa and Australia have retained the top two positions on the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings following the 1 May annual update, but eighth-ranked Pakistan has opened up a nine-point advantage over ninth-ranked the West Indies, which can prove decisive since England plus the next seven highest-ranked sides as on 30 September 2017 will qualify automatically for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

The annual update is carried out to ensure the table continues to reflect teams’ recent form with older results being discarded. As such, the table now reflects all matches from 1 May 2014, with matches played from 1 May 2016 carrying 100 per cent weighting.

Both Pakistan and ninth-ranked West Indies have dropped points following the update - Pakistan slipping from 90 points to 88 points and the West Indies sliding from 83 points to 79 points. However, Pakistan’s pre-update seven-point gap has extended to nine points.

Bangladesh has surrendered one point and is now on 91 points, but its gap over eighth-ranked Pakistan has increased from two points to three. Sri Lanka, which was sitting pretty on 98 points prior to the annual update, has slid to 93 points to now lead Bangladesh by only two points. However, Sri Lanka leads the West Indies by 14 points.

In the lead up to the 30 September 2017 cut-off date and according to the current Future Tours Programme, Bangladesh is scheduled to play in a tri-series in Ireland, which also features New Zealand, before taking part in the ICC Champions Trophy.

The West Indies will play host to Afghanistan in a three-ODI series in June before traveling to England where it will play five ODIs in September. Pakistan’s only assignment before the cut-off is the ICC Champions Trophy.

India, which will defend the ICC Champions Trophy title in the UK in June, has swapped places with ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 finalist New Zealand. Both the sides have gained points following the update but India’s five-point gain against New Zealand’s increase of three means India is now ranked third on 117 points and New Zealand is fourth on 115 points.

England, which will host the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, has retained its fifth ranking but has moved up one point to 109.

MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 1 May, following the annual update)