Kolkata: The West Indies and Pakistan cricket teams will be aiming to consolidate their positions on the International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI Team Rankings in their bid to qualify directly for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 when the two teams will square off in a three-match ODI series starting in Guyana on Friday.
The West Indies have been crowned world champions twice before back in 1975 and 1979 but unfortunately haven’t been able to replicate that sort of form since and are presently sitting in the ninth position of the ICC rankings with 84 points, five points behind eighth ranked 1992 World cup winners Pakistan. Bangladesh’s rise in prominence as a team over the past few years is well documented by the fact that they sit seventh on the table above the two so called powerhouses of the game. Bangladesh recently drew its three-match series against Sri Lanka putting them on 92 points.
The Windies lead Pakistan 15-13 on a head-to-head at home and have a chance to move ahead of the visiting side. But in order for that to happen the host team will have to win all three matches thus making it a whitewash. If the Windies are able to achieve this, then it will join the green shirts on 87 points and will be ranked eighth as it will be ahead by a fraction of a point.
In contrast, Pakistan, which has won 11 of 19 matches against the West Indies in the West Indies this decade, win all the three of their matches, then they will join Bangladesh on 92 points and will be ranked ahead of their Asian rival by a mere point.
The series is set up for a fascinating contest between the two giants of the game as crucial ranking points are up for grabs that can go a long way in helping them to qualify automatically for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. England and the seven other top teams on 30 September 2017 will qualify directly for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 with the remaining four teams getting a second chance through a 10-team ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifying tournament which is to be held in 2018.
This will also be the final series before the annual update is carried out on 1 May to ensure the table continues to reflect teams’ recent form with older results being discarded. This, in turn, means when the ODI team rankings are overhauled on 1 May, the table will reflect all matches from 1 May 2014 with matches played from 1 May 2016 to carry 100 per cent weighting.
ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 5 April, after Sri Lanka-Bangladesh series and before West Indies-Pakistan series)
Rankings
1. South Africa 119
2. Australia 118
3. New Zealand 113
4. India 112
5. England 108
6. Sri Lanka 98 (-)
7. Bangladesh 92 (+1)
8. Pakistan 89
9. West Indies 84
10. Afghanistan 52
11. Zimbabwe 48
12. Ireland 42
(With inputs from ICC media release)