England captain Alastair Cook and fast bowler Steven Finn have broken into the top 10 of the Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings after stellar performances against Pakistan in the four-match ODI series which finished in Dubai on Tuesday. Cook has jumped 27 places to eighth position on the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after finishing as the leading run-getter in the series with 323 runs, including back-to-back centuries in the Abu Dhabi ODIs.
Cook, who won the Test Player of the Year award at the LG ICC Awards in London in 2011, has now become the second highest-ranked England batsman after Jonathan Trott who has dropped two places to sixth position after managing just 38 runs in the series. Flamboyant Kevin Pietersen is the other batsman who has made a charge on the batting ladder after impressive performances with the willow. The Surrey batsman scored 281 runs in the series at an average of nearly 94 following scores of 14, 26, 111 not out and 130. For these entertaining performances, Pietersen has been rewarded with a jump of 22 places which puts him in 26th position. He is now England’s third highest-ranked batsman after Trott and Cook, while batsmen to follow the former England captain are Eoin Morgan in 30th (down by two), Ravi Bopara in 58th (up by 11) and Craig Kieswetter in 60th (up by five).
In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Finn has achieved a career-best ranking of ninth by rocketing 67 places to ninth position. The 22-year-old Middlesex bowler claimed 13 wickets in the series and he is now the second England bowler inside the top 10 after off-spinner Graeme Swann, who has finished in third position after gaining one place. Stuart Broad is the other England bowler to have improved his ranking. He is now in 24th position after rising five places while Jade Dernbach, who took four for 45 in the fourth and final ODI, has broken into the top 100 after lifting 27 places to 91st spot. The latest player rankings, which were released on Wednesday, doesn’t present good news for the Pakistan players. In the batting chart, Umar Akmal has dropped out of the top 10, falling to 13th position, down by three places, captain Misbah-ul-Haq has slipped three places to 29th spot, Shahid Afridi has dropped one place to 38th position, Younus Khan has slipped seven places to 43rd spot and Mohammad Hafeez has fallen five places to 48th position. The only Pakistan batsman to make an upward movement is Asad Shafiq who has gained nine places and now sits in 70th spot.
Pakistan bowlers to drop in the bowlers’ chart include Mohammad Hafeez, who has slipped from second spot to sixth position, Shahid Afridi, who has dropped from 11th to 15th spot, and Umar Gul, who has ended in 35th position after falling 11 places.
Saeed Ajmal, who finished with 10 wickets in the series, leads the bowlers’ table, followed by South Africa’s Lonwabo Tsotsobe. The left-arm fast bowler trails Saeed by 29 points and will be aiming to move ahead of the Pakistani when he appears in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand which starts on Saturday. In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders, Mohammad Hafeez has dropped one place to third as Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan continues to lead the pack.
Pakistan can climb five places if wins T20 series
South Africa has swapped places with New Zealand on the Reliance ICC T20I Championship table after winning the three-match Twenty20 International (T20I) series which concluded in Auckland on Wednesday. South Africa now trials number-one ranked
and ICC World Twenty20 champion England by 11 ratings points. England goes head to head with Pakistan in a three-match series in Dubai on Thursday. And to retain the number-one position, England will have to avoid losing all three matches of the series. A 2-1 series win will keep England on top of the tree even though it will drop to 128 ratings points while Pakistan will join India on 108 ratings points. However, Pakistan will be ranked above India when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point. If Pakistan wins the series 2-1, then England will slip to 122 ratings points while Pakistan will move ahead of Australia in fifth position
on 113 ratings points. However, if Pakistan wins all the three matches of the series, then England will drop to third while Pakistan will rise to second position. In this scenario, England will concede 14 ratings points and will finish on 116 ratings points while Pakistan will gain
12 ratings points and will finish just one ratings points behind South Africa.