Windies aim to climb up rankings

LONDON: West Indies cricketers could climb as high as fourth place in the International Cricket Council (ICC) One-Day International (ODI) Championship table if they do well in the forthcoming NatWest Triangular series with England and New Zealand. Currently occupying eighth spot in the world ODI rankings with a points rating of 102, West Indies go into the series as the lowest ranked of the three participating teams. But victories in their first three matches will help them overtake seventh-ranked England, while a successful series could see them moving up behind Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka on the list.

The series begins on Thursday with hosts England facing New Zealand, who are rated fourth in the world. West Indies start on Saturday against New Zealand.   Meanwhile, having cemented third spot in the official Test table with a 3-0 series win over New Zealand, England’s ODI team can now aim even higher in the ICC ODI Championship table. If England win all of their matches in the series, they will climb to second spot in the official ODI table.

England start the series with a rating of 105 and if they make it through all six qualifying matches and the final without losing, they will move above South Africa, currently second on 113 points.  The English have never been higher than third in the official ODI table since it was launched in October 2002.  New Zealand, currently fourth in the official table on 109 points, can also close in on South Africa if they can bounce back from the Test defeat and perform well in the ODI matches.