Australia, Mitchell Starc and AB de Villiers top in the latest ICC ODI rankings

Australia, Mitchell Starc and AB de Villiers top in the latest ICC ODI rankings: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has declared the ICC ODI rankings, updated till the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Australia after winning back the world cup continues to dominate the team rankings and are placed at the No. 1 position; thus also retaining the ODI shield.

Aussie left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc who was also the player of the tournament in the recently concluded  world cup 2015, has rose to the top of the ODI bowlers ranking as he was the leading wicket taker in the World Cup.

Though South Africa lost in the semi-finals to New Zealand, the way AB de Villiers led his team was remarkable; and out of the 5 matches that the Proteas won in the World Cup, the skipper had remarkable and winning contribution in most of them. With some breath taking display of stupendous batting AB de Villiers scored 482 runs in 7 matches at an average of 96.40 as he was the third highest run getter in the world cup 2015.

De Villiers becomes 11^th to break the 900-point mark

Australia retains ODI Shield and wins USD$175,000 after finishing as number-one ranked side on the 1 April cut-off date

Australia’s Mitchell Starc has surged to the top of the ICC Player Rankings for ODI Bowlers for the first time in his career following stellar performance in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 that also fetched him the player of the tournament award.

The 25-year-old left-arm fast bowler finished ICC’s pinnacle 50-over tournament as joint-leading wicket-taker with New Zealand’s Trent Boult with 22 wickets, including two for 20 in eight over’s in the final against New Zealand. This performance has helped Starc to rise two places and claim the number-one position for the first time.

Starc had entered the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in seventh position and during the course of the tournament, he gained 147 ratings points. He currently sits on 783 rating points, which is also his career-best rating and was achieved during the final played in front of over 93,000 spectators.

Boult has also made gains in the latest rankings following his excellent run in the tournament. The left-arm fast bowler has vaulted nine places to jump to career-high sixth position – a place he shares with Australia’s Mitchell Johnson, who has also moved up by two places.

South Africa’s wrist spinner Imran Tahir has also finished the series in a career-best second position. Tahir had started in 11^th position and has leapfrogged nine places, thanks to his 15 wickets in eight matches.

Australia’s James Faulkner, who was adjudged the player of the final, has also made an upward movement along with India’s Umesh Yadav.

Yadav has broken into the top 20 for the first time in his career following his 15 wickets in the series, including four for 72 in the semi-final against Australia. Yadav has rocketed 16 places to join England’s James Tredwell in 18^th position.

Faulkner’s 10 wickets in the series has put him climb 12 positions to a career-high 23^rd position with a career-high 585 ratings points, which he gained in the final against New Zealand.

In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen, South Africa captain AB de Villiers has become the 11^th batsman overall, and second South African after Hashim Amla, to break the 900-point mark. In ranking terms, 900 points marks out a player as truly great.

De Villiers achieved the milestone during the semi-final against New Zealand when he scored 65 not out. He is now eighth on the list behind Viv Richards (935), Zaheer Abbas (931), Greg Chappell (921), David Gower (919), Dean Jones (918), Javed Miandad (910) and Brian Lara (908). Desmond Haynes (900) completes the tally of 11 batsmen.

There is no change in the top five batters but the biggest movers in the latest rankings are Steven Smith and Martin Guptill, who were yesterday named in the Team of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

Smith finished the series with 402 runs with one century and four half-centuries, while Guptill belted the highest World Cup individual score to date while scoring 237 not out on the way to finishing as the leading run-getter with 547 runs. As a result, Smith has jumped 19 places to a career-high 12^thposition, while Guptill has finished in 22^nd place after rising 12 places.

India opener Rohit Sharma has also headed in the right direction after achieving a career-best ranking of 12^th. Rohit scored 330 runs in the series for which he has been rewarded with a jump of seven places.

The curtain fell on the ODI careers of Michael Clarke, Brendan Taylor, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Clarke finished his career in 29^th spot (up by three places), Taylor 20^th (down by four places), Misbah in 12^th (up by one place), Sangakkara (second) and Jayawardene 34^th (down by five places).

In the ICC Player Rankings for ODI All-rounders, Tillakaratne Dilshan has retained his top spot, followed by Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh. The only change in the top 10 was the entry of South Africa’s JP Duminy, who has moved up four places to ninth spot.

Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi has signed off on his ODI career as sixth ranked all-rounder. In the batting chart, he was 44^th while 30^th in the bowling table.

ICC ODI TEAM RANKINGS:

Meanwhile, South Africa has retained the ODI Shield and has also won USD$175,000 after finishing as the number-one ranked ODI side at the 1 April cut-off date. India has collected USD$75,000 for finish second.

ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 31 March, 2015, after the conclusion of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015). Check here

ICC ODI Batsmen’s Ranking Check here

ICC ODI Bowler’s Ranking Check here