DUBAI: Pakistan have a nine-point advantage over ninth-ranked West Indies on the ICC ODI team rankings, which can prove decisive since England plus the next seven highest-ranked sides as on Sept 30 will qualify automatically for the 2019 ICC World Cup.
South Africa and Australia have retained the top two positions on the ODI team rankings following the May 1 annual update, an ICC media release said on Monday.
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 May 1, 2014, with matches played from May 1, 2016 carrying 100 per cent weighting.
Both Pakistan and ninth-ranked West Indies have dropped points.
Meanwhile, number-one ranked South Africa have gained four points and are now on 123 points, while the world champions and second-ranked Australia have stayed on 118 points.
India, who will defend the ICC Champions Trophy title in the United Kingdom in June, has swapped places with World Cup 2015 finalists New Zealand.
Both sides have gained points following the update but India’s five-point gain against New Zealand’s increase of three means India are now ranked third with 117 points and New Zealand is fourth with 115 points.
England, who will host the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC World Cup, have retained their fifth ranking, but have moved up by one point to 109.
There is no change to 10th-ranked Afghanistan’s tally of 52 points, but 11th-ranked Zimbabwe have dropped two points and are now on 46 points. Ireland have gained one point and are on 43 points.
