South Africans biggest gainers in latest ICC ODI rankings after historic series win

South Africa won their first ever ODI series in Sri Lanka

South Africa registered their first ever ODI series win in Sri Lanka yesterday, and the effects of that win have reflected in the latest ICC ODI rankings released on Sunday.

With a 2-1 series win, Proteas have gained 2 points in the ICC ODI team rankings, now tied at 111 rating points along with Sri Lanka, who are ahead when the points are calculated up to decimal points. Australia remain the number 1 ranked team in the world, followed by India at the 2nd spot. However, only four points separate the top 4 teams and rankings can see some shuffling before 2015 World Cup.

South Africa play at least 17 ODIs before the World Cup and if results go their way, they could aim to enter the world event as No.1 ranked team.

ICC ODI team rankings:

Ranking	Team	Rating
1	Australia	115
2	India	112
3	Sri Lanka	111
4	South Africa	111
5	England	109
6	Pakistan	100
7	New Zealand	98
8	West Indies	94
9	Bangladesh	72
10	Zimbabwe	61

In individual rankings, South Africa’s highest scorer in the series, Hashim Amla is now tied at 2nd spot with India’s Virat Kohli. The duo sit 17 rating points behind No.1 ODI batsman AB de Villiers who has now achieved his career best rating of 885. Amla scored 2 centuries in 3 matches to end up with 258 runs in the series at an average of 86, while his skipper de Villiers scored 212 runs at 70.66 with a century and half-century each.

21-year-old Quinton de Kock, who became the youngest and quickest batsman to score 5 ODI tons yesterday, moved to 11th position in ICC ODI ranking for batsmen, his career best rank. David Miller too gained five places in the rankings, and ended up at 40th position in the list.

For Sri Lanka, skipper Angelo Mathews made 105 runs in 3 matches and reached 22nd position, gaining 2 places in the rankings.

ICC ODI rankings for batsmen:

Ranking	Player	Rating
1	AB de Villiers (South Africa)	885
2	Virat Kohli (India)	868
2	Hashim Amla (South Africa)	868
4	George Bailey (Australia)	856
5	Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)	823
6	MS Dhoni (India)	771
7	Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka)	750
8	Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)	715
9	Ross Taylor (New Zealand)	713
10	Shikhar Dhawan (India)	712

The most successful bowler in the series, South African pacer Ryan McLaren has gained 10 positions to break into the top 10 for the first time, reaching his career best ranking of 10. McLaren took 9 wickets in the 3-match series.

Legspinner Imran Tahir too made an impact with the ball, earning 6 scalps in the series, jumped 32 places to achieve career-best position at 51 in the latest rankings.

ICC ODI rankings for bowlers:

Ranking	Player	Rating
1	Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan)	789
2	Sunil Narine (West Indies)	714
3	James Anderson (England)	706
4	Dale Steyn (South Africa)	703
5	Clint McKay (Australia)	666
5	Ravindra Jadeja (India)	666
7	Lonwabo Tsotsobe (South Africa)	664
8	Morne Morkel (South Africa)	656
9	Mitchell Johnson (Australia)	639
10	Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan)	637
10	Ryan McLaren (South Africa)	637

*Rankings are updated up to 13th July 2014