England aim to snatch fifth position from Sri Lanka

LONDON: England will aim to move ahead of fifth-ranked Sri Lanka in the ICC ODI Team Rankings when the two sides go head to head in a five-match ODI series in Nottingham on Tuesday (today).

England are currently in sixth position on 103 points, two behind Sri Lanka, and require a 4-1 series win to leapfrog Sri Lanka. A 5-0 sweep of the series will mean England will finish on 108 points as compared to Sri Lanka’s 100 points.

On the other side of the coin, if Sri Lanka win all their five matches of the series, then they will join India on 110 points but will be ranked ahead of India when the points are calculated beyond the decimal point. A 3-2 series will gain one points, while England will drop one point.

Meanwhile, the West Indies have gained five valuable points and have moved to 93 points after winning a match each against world champion Australia and South Africa in the ongoing tri-series in the Caribbean. The West Indies had started the series on 88 points and can potentially move ahead of seventh-ranked Bangladesh if they remain unbeaten in their forthcoming matches.

As England along with the next seven highest ranked sides as on September 30 2017 will qualify directly for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, every point earned in the lead up to the cut-off date is extremely crucial and vital. And more importantly for the teams bunched in the middle of the pack, with fifth-ranked Sri Lanka separated by ninth-ranked Pakistan by 18 points.

After seven matches of the tri-series, number-one ranked Australia are on 122 points after dropping two points, while third-ranked South Africa are on 111 after dropping one point. If South Africa lose to the West Indies on Friday, June 24, then they will end up on 110 points and a fraction of a point behind India.