South Africa will go top of the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table if it wins the fifth and final match of the ongoing series against Australia.
Victory for the Proteas in that match, which is scheduled to take place in Perth on Friday, would give them a 4-1 series win and put them level with Australia on 125 ratings points. However, South Africa would be just ahead of its host by a fraction of a ratings point (124.85 points compared to Australia’s 124.64).
Of course Australia would have an immediate opportunity to win back the number-one position as there is a gap of just two days between the final ODI of the South Africa series and the first of five matches against New Zealand.
South Africa won the fourth ODI of the series by eight wickets in Adelaide on Monday and as a result moved to within three ratings points of Australia at the top of the table.
The Proteas are also pushing Ricky Ponting’s team at the top of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship and if it wins next month’s home Test series, which gets under way in Johannesburg on 26 February, it will go top of that table as well.
Topping the table means a side can call itself the number-one team in the world and it also means prize money.
Whichever side leads the ODI Championship table on 1 April will collect US$175,000 with the runner-up pocketing US$75,000. The same is true of the Test Championship meaning South Africa will walk away with US$350,000 if everything goes its way over the coming two months.
Equally, Australia could be that much richer if it manages to turn around its results in time and hold on to the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship mace and ODI Championship shield come the all-important date of 1 April.
Meanwhile, India can make it a three-horse race if it has a good series with Sri Lanka. The first of those five matches gets underway on Wednesday in Dambulla and if India wins all five, it will finish the series on 123 ratings points and in real contention at the top of the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table.
Where exactly that would put Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team in relative terms depends on how the Australia v South Africa series concludes and then how Ricky Ponting’s men perform against New Zealand.
India could even go top of the rankings before long if all results go its way and it makes a winning start to its own series against New Zealand early in March.
There is also plenty at stake for Mahela Jayawardena and his men. Currently poised in seventh position just one ratings point behind England, Sri Lanka has just come off the back of a successful 2-1 series victory in Pakistan and it could end up third in the table if it wins the India series 5-0.
That scoreline would yield seven points for Sri Lanka and would drop India down below the Black Caps into fifth position. Such is the competitive nature of the ODI Championship these days that there are just 19 points separating first place from seventh. It looks like it’s going to be an exciting year ahead at the top of the table.
And then there is an equally tight battle going on down at the foot of the ladder with three teams – Ireland, Zimbabwe and Kenya – separated by just eight ratings points.
Zimbabwe is in Mombasa at present with its five-ODI series against Kenya beginning there on Tuesday with two matches scheduled for the port city followed by three more in Nairobi. Zimbabwe recently showed some good form against Bangladesh and were it to win the series 4-1 or 5-0, it would go above Ireland and back into the top 10.
But Kenya, too, has the opportunity to go 10th. If Steve Tikolo’s team can win the series 4-1 or better it will jump two places to leave Ireland in 11th position and Zimbabwe propping up the table in 12th spot.
Upcoming fixtures:
27 Jan – Kenya v Zimbabwe (ODI), Mombasa
28 Jan – Sri Lanka v India (ODI), Dambulla
29 Jan – Kenya v Zimbabwe (ODI), Mombasa
30 Jan – Australia v South Africa (ODI), Perth
30 Jan – Sri Lanka v India (ODI), Colombo
31 Jan – Kenya v Zimbabwe (ODI), Nairobi
1 Feb – Australia v New Zealand (ODI), Perth
1 Feb – Kenya v Zimbabwe (ODI), Nairobi
2 Feb – Sri Lanka v India (ODI), Colombo
4 Feb – Kenya v Zimbabwe (ODI), Nairobi
5 Feb – Sri Lanka v India (ODI), Colombo
6 Feb – Australia v New Zealand (ODI), Melbourne
8 Feb – Australia v New Zealand (ODI), Sydney
8 Feb – Sri Lanka v India (ODI), Colombo
10 Feb – Australia v New Zealand (ODI), Adelaide
13 Feb – Australia v New Zealand (ODI), Brisbane
Previews for future ODI series, including that between Australia and New Zealand, will be sent out in due course.
Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship (as of 26 January)
Rank Team Rating
1 Australia 126
2 South Africa 123
3 India 119
4 New Zealand 113
5 Pakistan 111
6 England 108
7 Sri Lanka 107
8 West Indies 91
9 Bangladesh 46
10 Ireland 19
11 Zimbabwe 17
12 Kenya 11
