SPORTS

Rediff rankings: Champs Australia regain top spot

By M J Manohar Rao and Srinivas Bhogle
October 08, 2009

Australia (69.98) returned to the top of the Rediff ODI rankings in emphatic fashion after retaining the recently-concluded ICC Champions Trophy.

India (61.27) and South Africa (57.89) crashed dramatically after failing to reach the semi-finals, but still hold on to the second and third places.

New Zealand (51.39) gained points after reaching the finals and are now placed fourth.

Table A shows the current ODI rankings:
TABLE A: CURRENT ODI RANKINGS (as on October 7, 2009)
Team WI TI ODI RBI=
WI * 0.80 + TI * 0.20
diff: 18.9.09 -> 7.10.09 Ranking
Australia 69.42 72.22 69.98 +5.90 1
India 61.59 60.00 61.27 -8.26 2
South Africa 61.65 42.86 57.89 -12.08 3
New Zealand 52.99 45.00 51.39 +1.31 4
Sri Lanka 47.90 50.00 48.32 -5.22 5
Pakistan 49.47 25.00 44.58 +0.00 6
England 42.99 37.50 41.89 -2.01 7
West Indies 35.64 0.00 28.51 -0.69 8
Bangladesh 16.99 57.14 25.02 +0.16 9
Zimbabwe 13.55 0.00 10.84 +0.06 10

The corresponding Reliance Mobile ICC ODI rankings (as on October 7, 2009) are Australia (128), India (124), South Africa (121), New Zealand (110), Pakistan (109), England (106), Sri Lanka (106), West Indies (76), Bangladesh (55) and Zimbabwe (26).

This time there appears to be good agreement between the Rediff and ICC rankings.

Details

The Rediff ODI rating, now published regularly for almost eight years, is a judicious combination of every team's weighted index (WI) and tournament index (TI).

The WI, based on recent ODI encounters between every pair of teams as shown in Table B, is essentially a weighted average that considers the 'opposition strength' (because wins against strong opponents must be rewarded more) and the 'home-away-neutral' factors (because teams usually win more at home, and lose more playing 'away').

The TI factors in a team's performance in tournaments and series (and thereby seeks to better reward wins in 'big' matches). The TI is currently based on a time window spanning the last 12-13 months, i.e. October 2008 to October 2009.

TABLE B: ODI SCORECARD (as on October 7, 2009; used to compute WI)
 
  Aus Ban Eng Ind NZ Pak RSA SL WI Zim
Australia   H  
  A  
N
    3 / 3 
  3 / 3 
3 / 4
  3 / 6 
  6 / 7 
3 / 3
  2.5/6 
  4.5/7 
2 / 3
  2.5/5 
  0 / 3 
3 / 3
  4 / 5 
  0 / 0 
4 / 6
1 / 5
  2 / 5 
2 / 2
3 / 4
  3 / 5 
4 / 4
  2.5/3 
5 / 5
4 / 6
  3.5/4 
4 / 4
0 / 0
Bangladesh   H  
  A  
N
  0 / 3  
  0 / 3 
1 / 4
    0 / 3 
  0 / 3 
0 / 1
  0 / 3 
0 / 0
1 / 3
  0 / 3 
  0 / 3 
0 / 3
  0 / 4 
0 / 6
0 / 2
  0 / 3 
  0 / 2 
1 / 2
  1 / 3 
  0 / 3 
0 / 4
  0.5/3 
  3 / 3 
0 / 2
  2 / 4 
  4 / 5 
1 / 1
England   H  
  A  
N
  1 /7 
  3 / 6 
0 / 3
  3 / 3 
  3 / 3 
1 / 1
    4 / 7 
0 / 5
0 / 2
  1.5/5 
  1.5/5 
2 / 6
  2.5/5 
2 / 5
1 / 1
  4 / 4 
  3 / 8 
0 / 1
  0 / 5 
  3 / 5 
4 / 6
  2 / 2 
  3/5 
1 / 1
  1.5/3 
  4 / 4 
1 / 1
India   H  
  A  
N
  2.5/7 
  3.5/6 
1 / 3
  0 / 0 
  3 / 3 
2 / 3
  5/ 5 
  3 / 7 
2 / 2
    1.5/3 
  3.5/5 
1 / 1
  3 / 5 
  5 / 7 
2 / 5
  2 / 4 
0 / 4
2 / 3
  2 / 3 
  5 / 7 
3.5/ 6
  3 / 5 
  2.5 / 4 
4 / 5
  3 / 5 
  2 / 2 
4 / 4
New Zealand   H  
  A  
N
  3 / 3 
  2.5/5 
0 / 3
3 / 3
  3 / 3 
3 / 3
3.5/5
  3.5/5 
4 / 6
 1.5/5  
  1.5/3 
0 / 1
    4 / 5 
  0 / 5 
2 / 2
  5 / 6 
  1/4 
2 / 2
  2/4  
  0 / 1 
1 / 3
  3 / 5 
  2.5/6 
3 / 4
  1 / 3 
  2 / 2 
1 / 1
Pakistan   H  
  A  
N
  0 / 0 
  1 / 5 
2 / 6
  6 / 6 
  4 / 4 
2 / 2
  3 / 5 
  2.5/5 
0 / 1
  2 / 7 
  2 / 5 
3 / 5
  5 / 5 
  1 / 5 
0 / 2
    2 / 5 
  1 / 4 
0 / 1
  1 / 3 
  2/5 
2 / 3
3 / 4
3 / 4
4 / 4
  5 / 5 
  5 / 5 
3 / 3
South Africa   H  
  A  
N
  3 /5 
4 / 5
0 / 2
  2 /2 
3 / 3
1 / 2
5 / 8
  0 / 4 
1 / 1
4 / 4
  2/ 4 
1 / 3
  3/4 
  1 / 6 
0 / 2
  3 / 4 
  3 / 5 
1 / 1
    4.5/7 
  0 / 5 
4 / 6
5/5
  6 / 6 
0 / 1
  3 / 3 
  3 / 3 
3 / 3
Sri Lanka   H  
  A  
N
  2 / 5 
  1 / 4 
0 / 4
  3 / 3 
  2 / 3 
4 / 4
  2 / 5 
  5 / 5 
2 / 6
  2 / 7 
  1 / 3 
2.5 / 6
  1 / 1 
  2 / 4 
2 / 3
  3/5 
  2 / 3 
1 / 3
  5 / 5 
  2.5/7 
2 / 6
    1 / 2 
  0.5/3 
1 / 1
  2 / 2 
  5 / 5 
2 / 2
West Indies   H  
  A  
N
0 / 5
  0.5/3 
2 / 6
0 / 3
  2.5/3 
2 / 2
  2/5 
  0 / 2 
0 / 1
  1.5 / 4 
  2 / 5 
1 / 5
  3.5/6 
  2 / 5 
1 / 4
1 / 4
1 / 4
0 / 4
  0 / 6 
0/5
1 / 1
  2.5/3 
 1 / 2 
0 / 1
    6.5/7 
  3 / 4 
1 / 1
Zimbabwe   H  
  A  
N
  0 / 4 
  0.5/4 
0 / 0
  1 / 5 
  2 / 4 
0 / 1
  0 / 4 
  1.5/3 
0 / 1
  0 / 2 
  2 / 5 
0 / 4
  0 / 2 
  2 / 3 
0 / 1
  0 / 5 
  0 / 5 
0 / 3
  0 / 3 
  0 / 3 
0 / 3
  0 / 5 
  0 / 2 
0 / 2
  1 / 4 
  0.5/7 
0 / 1
 

Since the ICC Champions Trophy involves the top eight teams, we give the winner four tournament points out of four, the losing finalist gets four points out of four and the two losing semi-finalists get one point each. The teams failing to qualify for the semi-finals get no points.

There's plenty of ODI cricket ahead: India host Australia for a seven-match series, Zimbabwe visit Bangladesh for a five-match series and Pakistan clash with New Zealand in Abu Dhabi for a three-match ODI series.

M J Manohar Rao and Srinivas Bhogle

Recommended by Rediff.com

NEXT ARTICLE

NewsBusinessMoviesSportsCricketGet AheadDiscussionLabsMyPageVideosCompany Email