Rankings volatility as new system beds down
Significant changes to the International Cricket Council's one-day international rankings list have occurred as the first year of results in the original calculation drop out
Lynn McConnell
14-Jul-2003
Significant changes to the International Cricket Council's one-day international rankings list have occurred as the first year of results in the original calculation drop out.
The refreshed table is based on the results of the last two years. Matches played in the last 12 months have a higher weighting in the calculation. They are worth two-thirds and the previous year has a one-third value, with matches played in the next year worth full value. An annual refresh of the table will be done on July 31.
The new order is:
New Old Rating Rank Rating Rating Change Change 1 Australia 134 132 +2 - 2 South Africa 118 120 -2 - 3 England 107 103 +4 up 4 4 West Indies 106 103 +3 up 2 5 New Zealand 106 101 +5 up 3 6 Sri Lanka 105 106 -1 down 2 7 Pakistan 105 108 -3 down 4 8 India 104 104 0 down 3 9 Zimbabwe 63 66 -3 - 10 Kenya 28 28 0 - 11 Bangladesh 3 4 -1 -
New Zealand has enjoyed the biggest jump, in terms of rating points, moving from eighth to fifth place, while England has leapt four places to No 3 and the West Indies have increased three places from seventh to fourth.
The reasons for the marked change, and the way the system works this sort of upheaval could occur each year, are because the teams that have improved, have had bad seasons drop off their calculations. England lost a season in which it had two wins from 14 games, New Zealand lost a year in which they had 12 wins in 35 completed games, and the West Indies dropped a year in which they won only eight games of 23.
The opportunity for fluctuation is high, and probably reflects the competitiveness of the teams concerned. Only three points separate third-placed England and eighth-placed India.
It is so close that if a team like India won two or three games in a row against a top-ranked team like Australia or South Africa, they could almost immediately leap to third place. England had such a leap in its performance by beating South Africa three times out of four in their recent NatWest Series.
The method of separating teams with equal ratings has also changed as the system has evolved. Previously the team with most matches got the higher rating, but now the rating is extended to three decimal places to resolve the issue. England, the West Indies and New Zealand are separated by only 0.826 rating points, and the West Indies and New Zealand by 0.174.
The actual ratings for the three are: England 106.783, West Indies 106.130 and New Zealand 105.957.
The change has also highlighted Australia's increased dominance as the gap between it and second-placed South Africa has now extended from 12 to 16 points. Such has been world champion Australia's dominance of the one-day game that it is going to have to suffer a massive turnaround in form to lose its hold on first place. Its last 12 months has been its most successful period to date, so that season will not fall out of calculations for another two years.
Pakistan and Zimbabwe both paid the price for having good seasons drop off the calculation scale. Pakistan has had a poor last 12 months while Zimbabwe has suffered a more gradual decline over the last three years.
ODI playing record in the new period of calculation (August 2001-July 2003):
P W L T NR % Australia 52 38 12 1 1 75.5% South Africa 64 40 21 2 1 65.1% England 47 23 22 - 2 51.1% West Indies 46 23 20 - 3 53.5% New Zealand 49 22 26 - 1 45.8% Sri Lanka 67 33 31 1 2 51.5% Pakistan 58 33 23 - 2 58.9% India 64 36 24 - 4 60.0% Zimbabwe 50 11 36 - 3 23.4% Kenya 29 4 24 - 1 14.3% Bangladesh 26 - 24 - 2 0.0%
These results can be broken down by each weighting period. Matches played in the last 12 months (Period Two) were formerly taken at face value, but are now dampened down to a weighting of two-thirds. Matches played in the 12 months prior to this (Period One) now carry a weighting of one-third.
Period Two results (August 2002-July 2003):
P W L T NR % Australia 34 28 5 - 1 84.8% South Africa 37 24 11 1 1 68.1% England 24 10 13 - 1 43.5% West Indies 27 13 12 - 2 52.0% New Zealand 21 13 8 - - 61.9% Sri Lanka 44 21 20 1 2 51.2% Pakistan 36 16 18 - 2 47.1% India 33 18 12 - 3 60.0% Zimbabwe 26 5 18 - 3 21.7% Kenya 20 3 16 - 1 15.8% Bangladesh 20 - 18 - 2 0.0%
Period One results (August 2001-July 2002):
P W L T NR % Australia 18 10 7 1 - 58.3% South Africa 27 16 10 1 - 61.1% England 23 13 9 - 1 59.1% West Indies 19 10 8 - 1 55.6% New Zealand 28 9 18 - 1 33.3% Sri Lanka 23 12 11 - - 52.2% Pakistan 22 17 5 - - 77.3% India 31 18 12 - 1 60.0% Zimbabwe 24 6 18 - - 25.0% Kenya 9 1 8 - - 11.1% Bangladesh 6 - 6 - - 0.0%
Results removed from calculations (August 2000-July 2001):
P W L T NR % Australia 25 19 5 1 - 78.0% South Africa 27 19 6 1 1 75.0% England 14 2 12 - - 14.3% West Indies 23 8 15 - - 34.8% New Zealand 36 12 23 - 1 34.3% Sri Lanka 31 20 11 - - 64.5% Pakistan 24 15 9 - - 62.5% India 28 16 12 - - 57.1% Zimbabwe 31 9 22 - - 29.0% Kenya 1 - 1 - - 0.0% Bangladesh 4 - 4 - - 0.0%
Note: A tie is worth half a win and no results are ignored when calculating the winning percentage. Tables do not include matches involving non-full member one-day international playing nations such as Canada, Namibia and the Netherlands as the results do not count in ICC One-Day International Championship calculations. The win/loss records do not take into account strength of opposition, which the Championship calculations do, therefore weighting outcomes differently.