Australia’s hold on the number one spot in the International Cricket Council’s one-day international rankings hangs by a thread after New Zealand sealed a 2-0 series win in Hamilton on Sunday. Australia, the reigning ODI World Cup winners, remain the leading 50-over side in the world despite surrendering the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy to the Kiwis. But if South Africa, who are breathing down Australia’s neck behind by only a fraction of a point, win both of their remaining ODIs against Sri Lanka, they will ascend to top spot.
1 Australia 61 7,227 118
2 South Africa 55 6,475 118
3 New Zealand 54 6,110 113
4 India 56 6,261 112
5 England 57 6,090 107
6 Sri Lanka 62 6,189 100
7 Bangladesh 33 3,019 91
8 Pakistan 56 5,005 89
9 West Indies 37 3,168 86
10 Afghanistan 26 1,341 52
11 Zimbabwe 50 2,409 48
12 Ireland 20 834 42
The Proteas currently lead Sri Lanka 3-0 in their five-match series and should their winning streak continue they will go to 119 ranking points, with Australia consigned to 118 points for now. Australia don’t have any scheduled ODIs until this year’s ICC Champions Trophy, to be held in England in June, while the Proteas will head to New Zealand for another five one-dayers after they wrap up their series against Sri Lanka. The Black Caps meanwhile have risen above India to third spot with their series win over Aaron Finch’s men, gaining two ranking points to sit on 113, going past India’s 112 despite the latter prevailing 2-1 in their most recent ODI series with England. Last year, Australia ascended to No.1 on the ICC charts in both Test and ODIs before losing five consecutive matches in the longest format to briefly fall to fourth on the Test rankings. Steve Smith’s side has since risen back to No.2 and will face arguably the toughest challenge in Test cricket later this month when they travel to face top-ranked India on their home soil.
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