ICC ODI Rankings: South Africa Attain Pole Position After Sri Lanka Whitewash
Nov 4, 2023 at 5:38 PM
On Friday, South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 88 runs to win the fifth and final ODI at Centurion and thus completed yet another series whitewash. Courtesy their emphatic win, the Proteas pipped Australia by one point to seal the top spot in the latest ICC ODI Rankings.
The win also saw South Africa register their 11th consecutive win at home, considering their mammoth 5-0 win over Australia in the ODI series last year. In their quest to dethrone Australia from the pole position, hosts started off in the most dominating manner.
Both openers Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla notched up their respective centuries. Amla, in precise, went onto score 154, putting an end to his poor form with the bat. In the process, he became the fastest to reach 50 centuries in international cricket in just 348 innings. Given the numbers, it would be fair to say his innings gave South Africa the momentum, before they plugged a towering total of 384 on the board.
In reply, the visitors showed grit as they did in most part of the series, but still lost the game, failing to change their dismal win equation overseas.
Australia, who lost the three-match series 2-0 against New Zealand recently, slid down the order to number two position. Virat Kohli’s men, who found success in a close series against England, stand at fourth spot. Following them are England and Sri Lanka at fifth and sixth position respectively.
Fighting to cement their place in the 2019 World Cup, both Pakistan and the West Indies would look to win their upcoming series, as both are positioned at eight and ninth in rankings respectively. Bangladesh, however, sit comfortably at the seventh spot.
ICC ODI Rankings:
Name of Team Ratings
South Africa 119
Australia 118
New Zealand 113
India 112
England 107
Sri Lanka 98
Bangladesh 91
Pakistan 89
West Indies 86
Afghanistan 52
*Rankings are updated as per 11th February, 2017.