Only 26 ratings points separate the top eight-ranked ODI sides
De Villiers enters as the top-ranked batsman, Steyn as highest-ranked bowler and Shakib as number-one all-rounder in cricket’s pinnacle 50-over tournament
Australia will launch its campaign to win its fifth ICC Cricket World Cup title when it enters the 11th edition of the game’s pinnacle 50-over tournament as the number-one-ranked side.
Australia will feature on the opening day of the tournament on 14 February in Melbourne when it locks horns with England, which currently sits in fifth position. Earlier on the same day in Christchurch, co-host and sixth-ranked New Zealand will go head to head with former champion and fourth-placed Sri Lanka, with just five ratings points separating the two sides.
Australia enjoys a comfortable six-point advantage over its closest rival and defending champion India, which squares off against traditional rival and seventh-ranked Pakistan in Adelaide. Also on Sunday, 15 February in Hamilton, third-ranked South Africa takes on continental rival Zimbabwe, which is currently sitting in 10th position and trailing the title favourites by 55 ratings points.
Two-time former champion and eight-ranked West Indies will meet 12th-ranked Ireland in Nelson on Monday, 16 February with 60 ratings points separating the two sides.
Australia had also started as the top-ranked side in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in the subcontinent. However, it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side that lifted the trophy in Mumbai after entering the competition in second position and 12 ratings points behind Australia.
Australia not only has the home advantage this time around, it is also enjoying a winning momentum, having won 17 ODIs with just five defeats and one no-result since January 2014. However, this dominance is not as strongly reflected in the Reliance ICC ODI Players Rankings which includes five Australia batsmen (George Bailey (11th), Aaron Finch (12th), Glenn Maxwell (17th), Shane Watson (19th) and James Faulkner (22nd)) and two bowlers (Mitchell Johnson (fifth) and Mitchell Starc (seventh)) inside the top 25.
Australia batsmen sitting just outside the top 25 are captain Michael Clarke (27th), David Warner (28th) and Steven Smith (29th).
Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are India’s highest-ranked batsman and bowler in third and 13th positions, respectively. Other India batsmen to feature inside the top 25 include Shikhar Dhawan (seventh), Dhoni (ninth), Rohit Sharma (13th) and Suresh Raina (25th). Apart from Kumar, India boasts Ravindra Jadeja (14th), Ravichandran Ashwin (21st) and Mohammad Shami (24th) inside the top 25.
South Africa also has a notable presence in the Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings.
Captain AB de Villiers leads the batting table, closely followed by Hashim Amla with Quinton de Kock (10th) and Faf du Plessis (20th). Dale Steyn will start as the highest-ranked bowler in the bowler in tournament in third position, followed by Morne Morkel (10th) and Imran Tahir (11th).
New Zealand has played 14 ODIs in the past couple of months and has won nine matches. This is also reflected in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings with Kane Williamson (sixth) and Ross Taylor (eighth) featuring the top 10 of the batting table and Kyle Mills (20th) and Daniel Vettori (23rd), who is playing in his fifth Cricket World Cup, occupying positions inside the top 25 bowlers.
Joe Root is England’s highest-ranked batsman in 14th position, while James Anderson is sitting in fifth position on the bowlers’ chart. Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq is his country’s highest-ranked batsman in 14th position, while 15th-ranked Mohammad Irfan will spearhead the bowling attack.
Sri Lanka’s old war horses, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena, who will retire at the end of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, will begin in fourth and 22nd position, respectively, with Tillakaratne Dilshan (fifth) and captain Angelo Mathews (16th) sitting between the two batting stars. Rangana Herath (eighth), Sachithra Senanayake (17th) and Mathews (22nd) are the top-ranked Sri Lanka bowlers.
Among the four qualifiers, Ireland’s Paul Stirling will start as the highest-ranked batsman in 36th position, while Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi is the highest-ranked bowler and all-rounder in 31st and eighth spots, respectively.
Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 12 February 2015, before the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015)
Rank Team Ratings points
1 Australia 120
2 India 114
3 South Africa 113
4 Sri Lanka 108
5 England 104
6 New Zealand 103
7 Pakistan 95
8 West Indies 94
9 Bangladesh 75
10 Zimbabwe 53
11 Afghanistan 41
12 Ireland 34
(Developed by David Kendix)
Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings (as on 12 February 2015, before the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
Batsmen
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 AB de Villiers SA 891 52.16 899 v WI at East London 2015
2 Hashim Amla SA 867 56.41 901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012
3 Virat Kohli Ind 831 51.50 886 v Ban at Fatullah 2014
4 K. Sangakkara SL 823 40.99 853 v Afg at Mirpur 2014
5 T. Dilshan SL 785! 39.00 785 v NZ at Wellington 2015
6 Kane Williamson NZ 784! 46.26 784 v Pak at Napier 2015
7 Shikhar Dhawan Ind 725 42.75 785 v SL at Hyderabad 2014
8 Ross Taylor NZ 722! 41.99 722 v Pak at Napier 2015
9 MS Dhoni Ind 721 52.29 836 v Aus at Delhi 2009
10 Quinton de Kock SA 720* 42.45 749 v Aus at Sydney 2014
11 George Bailey Aus 717 41.74 867 v SA at Harare 2014
12 Aaron Finch Aus 680* 37.10 692 v Ind at Sydney 2015
13 Rohit Sharma Ind 674 38.90 684 v Aus at Melbourne 2015
14= Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 664 42.99 744 v SL at Fatullah 2014
Joe Root Eng 664 40.00 688 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2014
16 Angelo Mathews SL 662 40.31 707 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014
17 Glenn Maxwell Aus 644*! 30.67 644 v Eng at Perth 2015
18 Ahmed Shehzad Pak 643 34.82 670 v Ban at Mirpur 2014
19 Shane Watson Aus 636 40.57 773 v SL at Hambantota 2011
20 Faf du Plessis SA 630 33.84 703 v NZ at Bay Oval 2014
21 M. Hafeez Pak 629 31.10 665 v Ban at Mirpur 2014
22= M. Jayawardena SL 628 33.48 738 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2001
James Faulkner Aus 628*! 48.12 628 v Eng at Perth 2015
24 Jos Buttler Eng 625 31.63 633 v Ind at Perth 2015
25 Suresh Raina Ind 623 35.44 669 v Eng at Dharamsala 2013
Bowlers
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 Saeed Ajmal Pak 744 22.18 4.13 810 v SA at Centurion 2013
2 Sunil Narine WI 734 26.49 4.10 791 v SL at Jamaica 2013
3 Dale Steyn SA 724 25.14 4.80 746 v Ind at Durban 2013
4 James Anderson Eng 706 28.84 4.90 719 v SA at The Oval 2013
5 Mitchell Johnson Aus 683 25.50 4.82 724 v Ban at Darwin 2008
6 Shakib Al Hasan Ban 680 27.92 4.26 717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009
7 Mitchell Starc Aus 636* 21.27 5.00 647 v Ind at Sydney 2015
8= M. Hafeez Pak 629 35.01 4.06 769 v Ind at Kolkata 2013
Rangana Herath SL 629 31.07 4.40 703 v SA at Pallekele 2013
10 Morne Morkel SA 628 24.69 4.95 717 v SL at East London 2012
11 Imran Tahir SA 625* 20.23 4.39 631 v WI at East London 2015
12 Steven Finn Eng 624 28.41 4.87 755 v NZ at Auckland 2013
13 B. Kumar Ind 620 37.15 4.62 657 v WI at Dharamsala 2014
14 Ravindra Jadeja Ind 618 32.76 4.81 738 v Zim at Bulawayo 2013
15 Mohammad Irfan Pak 614 29.92 4.90 621 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014
16= James Tredwell Eng 613 27.81 4.77 646 v SL at Pallekele 2014
Shahid Afridi Pak 613 33.96 4.62 673 v Ban at Mirpur 2011
18 S. Senanayake SL 610 34.77 4.69 656 v NZ at Christchurch 2015
19 Clint McKay Aus 609 24.37 4.78 709 v Eng at Cardiff 2013
20 Kyle Mills NZ 605 27.02 4.72 722 v Aus at Melbourne 2009
21= M. Mortaza Ban 600 30.51 4.67 653 v Zim at Mirpur 2009
R. Ashwin Ind 600 32.64 4.90 691 v SL at Hambantota 2012
23 Daniel Vettori NZ 595 32.30 4.13 788 v Eng at Durham 2008
24= Angelo Mathews SL 593 34.79 4.52 649 v Ind at Trinidad 2013
M. Shami Ind 593 26.74 5.67 636 v WI at Delhi 2014
Kemar Roach WI 593 26.85 4.90 650 v Pak at St Lucia 2013
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points HS Rating
1 Shakib Al Hasan Ban 403 453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009
2 M. Hafeez Pak 396 438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013
3 Angelo Mathews SL 393 427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014
4 T. Dilshan SL 389 407 v NZ at Hamilton 2015
5 Shahid Afridi Pak 348 383 v Ban at Mirpur 2011
6 James Faulkner Aus 327*/! 327 v Eng at Perth 2015
7 Ravindra Jadeja Ind 319 378 v Eng at Edgbaston 2013
8 M. Nabi Afg 290 296 v Ire at Dubai (GCA) 2015
9 Shane Watson Aus 275 433 v WI at St Lucia 2012
10 Glenn Maxwell Aus 270*/*! 270 v Eng at Perth 2015
*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after a minimum of 40 started innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating after he has conceded 1,500 runs.
!indicates career-highest rating
