Australia, already considered the world’s top test nation, was named the top one-day international team on Thursday in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) first ever rankings for the limited overs game.
South Africa is second on the ICC one-day international championship table, followed by Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India.
The table gives rankings and ratings for all 10 test playing nations and Kenya, the only country to hold one-day, but not test, status. The opening positions are based on results of all one-dayers played since August 1, 2000.
The rankings will now be reviewed after every match played. ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said the major reason behind introducing the rankings was to give one-day tournaments meaning.
The idea was prompted by Paul Condon, head of the anti-corruption investigation into match-fixing.
”One of the objectives is to make sure every one-day
international match has context and that there are no dead rubbers, even if a series is over the match will count to a team’s ranking,” Speed said.
”Lord Condon was concerned that there were one-day matches that lacked context and meaning and that’s one of the issues that was addressed here. Also, if a team is the best team over a long period of time, it can claim that honour and that’s what this does.”
The system means the team which wins next year’s World Cup in South Africa might not even be the number one ranked nation.
”There will be a World Cup winner and there will be a team that is leading on the rankings and they may not necessarily be the same,” Speed said.
”They’re different but they can live together. They should add interest to each other. Everyone loves an underdog if a team that’s ranked lower but does well in the World Cup, I think that adds interest to the World Cup.”
The ranking formula is based on the strength of opposition, with more points for beating better ranked teams, and greater importance placed on more recent results, with older matches dropped every 12 months.
All matches will have equal status, with no account taken of venue or margin of victory. As the best one-day team, Australia will receive a specially commissioned ICC ODI Trophy, while it tops the table. – Sapa-AP