Daily Times

LAHORE: New Zealand have overtaken world champions England to become the No.1 side in the ICC men’s ODI rankings, advancing by two slots during the annual update. England, who have dropped to fourth in ODIs, have retained their top position in the T20I standings, but New Zealand have also gained in the format, moving up from fifth to third position. These updates eliminate results from 2017-18 and give a 50 percent weighting to matches played until May 2020 which includes the 2019 World Cup. Courtesy of New Zealand’s 3-0 victory against Bangladesh in their only ODI series played in the 2020-21 season, they now have an aggregate of 121 points. Australia have moved up by two places to be second with 118 points while India have dropped down by one place to be third on 115 points, ahead of England on decimal points.

England’s slump to fourth comes after they lost both the Australia and India series 2-1 as well as an ODI to Ireland in the last 12 months. West Indies have also moved up to ninth position, overtaking Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, England consolidated their lead in the ICC men’s T20 team rankings, still ahead of India by five points on the back of impressive performances in the last year. During that period, they drew a three-match series against Pakistan 1-1, defeated both Australia 2-1 and South Africa 3-0 before losing an away series 3-2 against India 3-2.

For New Zealand, series wins over West Indies, Pakistan, Australia and Bangladesh meant they moved up the order in the T20I list. However, Australia slipped down from third to the fifth place. Both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have gained a place each to be placed eighth and ninth in the table, respectively. West Indies have moved down by two places to tenth. There has been no change of places in either format for Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Africa. Afghanistan are tenth in ODIs and seventh in T20Is, Pakistan occupy the sixth spot in ODIs and fourth in T20Is while South Africa are placed fifth in ODIs and sixth in T20Is.