We've had a curious month of ODI cricket. Bangladesh (22.04) crushed what was probably at best a West Indies A team in West Indies, and Sri Lanka (54.76) suddenly switched off after winning the home ODI series against Pakistan (45.08).
India (68.56), however, continue to top the Rediff ODI Rankings, with South Africa (64.66) and Australia (62.35) behind. India's acid test will be the Champions Trophy next month in South Africa.
Table A shows the current ODI rankings.
| TABLE A: CURRENT ODI RANKINGS (as on August 14, 2009) |
| Team | WI | TI | ODI RBI= WI * 0.80 + TI * 0.20 |
diff: 7.7.09 -> 14.8.09 | Ranking |
| India | 60.70 | 100.00 | 68.56 | +2.56 | 1 |
| South Africa | 62.07 | 75.00 | 64.66 | -0.80 | 2 |
| Australia | 65.44 | 50.00 | 62.35 | -1.97 | 3 |
| New Zealand | 54.99 | 62.50 | 56.49 | -0.21 | 4 |
| Sri Lanka | 47.63 | 83.33 | 54.76 | +3.41 | 5 |
| England | 46.69 | 75.00 | 52.35 | +0.05 | 6 |
| Pakistan | 50.10 | 25.00 | 45.08 | +0.30 | 7 |
| West Indies | 36.78 | 0.00 | 29.42 | -0.95 | 8 |
| Bangladesh | 16.83 | 42.86 | 22.04 | +6.50 | 9 |
| Zimbabwe | 14.66 | 0.00 | 11.73 | +0.55 | 10 |
The corresponding Reliance Mobile ICC ODI rankings (as on August 12, 2009) are South Africa (127), India (126), Australia (119), England (111), New Zealand (110), Pakistan (109), Sri Lanka (104), West Indies (78), Bangladesh (56) and Zimbabwe (24).
The real difference between South Africa (126.67) and India (126.38) is just about 0.3, but South Africa have had a more favourable rounding off.
Details
The Rediff ODI rating, now published regularly over the last seven years, is a judicious combination of every team's weighted index (WI) and tournament index (TI).
The WI, based on the most 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).
| TABLE B: ODI SCORECARD (as on August 14, 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 4 / 7 2 / 2 |
2.5/6 4.5/7 1.5 / 2 |
2.5/5 0 / 3 2 / 2 |
4 / 5 0 / 0 3 / 5 |
1 / 5 2 / 5 2 / 2 |
3 / 4 3 / 5 4 / 4 |
2.5/3 5 / 5 3 / 5 |
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 5 / 9 1 / 1 | ||
| England | H A N |
3 /7 3 / 6 0 / 2 |
3 / 3 3 / 3 1 / 1 |
4 / 7 0 / 5 0 / 2 |
1.5/5 1.5/5 2 / 5 |
2.5/5 2 / 5 1 / 1 |
4 / 4 2 / 7 0 / 1 |
0 / 5 3 / 5 3 / 5 |
2 / 2 3/5 1 / 1 |
1.5/3 4 / 4 1 / 1 | ||
| India | H A N |
2.5/7 3.5/6 0.5 / 2 |
0 / 0 3 / 3 2 / 3 |
5/ 5 3 / 7 2 / 2 |
1.5/3 3.5/5 1 / 3 |
3 / 5 5 / 7 2 / 4 |
2 / 4 0 / 4 2 / 3 |
2 / 3 4 / 5 3.5/ 6 |
3 / 5 2.5 / 4 3 / 4 |
3 / 5 2 / 2 4 / 4 |
||
| New Zealand | H A N |
3 / 3 2.5/5 0 / 2 |
3 / 3 3 / 3 3 / 3 |
3.5/5 3.5/5 3 / 5 |
1.5/5 1.5/3 2 / 3 |
4 / 5 0 / 5 1 / 1 |
5 / 6 1/3 2 / 2 |
2/4 0 / 0 0 / 2 |
3 / 5 2.5/6 3 / 4 |
1 / 3 2 / 2 1 / 1 | ||
| Pakistan | H A N |
0 / 0 1 / 5 2 / 5 |
6 / 6 4 / 4 2 / 2 |
3 / 5 2.5/5 0 / 1 |
2 / 7 2 / 5 2 / 4 |
5 / 5 1 / 5 0 / 1 |
2 / 5 1 / 4 0 / 1 |
1 / 3 2/5 2 / 3 |
3 / 4 3 / 4 3 / 3 |
5 / 5 5 / 5 3 / 3 | ||
| South Africa | H A N |
3 /5 4 / 5 0 / 2 |
2 /2 3 / 3 1 / 2 |
5 / 7 0 / 4 1 / 1 |
4 / 4 2/ 4 1 / 3 |
2/3 1 / 6 0 / 2 |
3 / 4 3 / 5 1 / 1 |
4.5/6 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 / 5 |
1 / 5 1 / 3 2.5 / 6 |
0 / 0 2 / 4 2 / 2 |
3/5 2 / 3 1 / 3 |
5 / 5 1.5/6 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 / 5 |
0 / 3 2.5/3 2 / 2 |
2/5 0 / 2 0 / 1 |
1.5 / 4 2 / 5 1 / 4 |
3.5/6 2 / 5 1 / 4 |
1 / 4 1 / 4 0 / 3 |
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 |
4 / 9 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 |
||
The TI is currently based on a time 'window' spanning the last 12-13
| TABLE C: TOURNAMENT POINTS TALLY (as on August 14, 2009; used to compute TI) |
| Team | E vs SA Aug- Sep 08 |
A vs B Aug- Sep 08 |
B vs NZ Oct 08 |
SA vs B Nov 08 |
WI vs P Nov 08 |
I vs E Nov 08 |
Z vs SL Nov 08 |
NZ vs WI Dec 08- Jan 09 |
Tri-Nation Jan 09 |
B vs Z Jan 09 |
P vs SL Jan 09 |
A vs SA Jan 09 |
SL vs I Jan- Feb 09 |
A vs NZ Feb 09 |
NZ vs I Mar 09 |
WI vs E Mar- Apr 09 |
SA vs A Apr 09 |
P vs A Apr- May 09 |
E vs WI May 09 |
WI vs I Jun- Jul 09 |
WI vs B Jul 09 |
SL vs P Jul- Aug 09 |
Score | TI |
| Australia | 1 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0.5 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 2.5 / 5 | 50.00 | |||||||||||||||||
| B'desh | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 1 / 2 | 1 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 3 / 7 | 42.86 | ||||||||||||||||
| England | 1 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 3 / 4 | 75.00 | ||||||||||||||||||
| India | 1 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 4 / 4 | 100.00 | ||||||||||||||||||
| New Zealand | 1 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 0.5/1 | 0 / 1 | 2.5 / 4 | 62.50 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Pakistan | 1 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 1 / 4 | 25.00 | ||||||||||||||||||
| South Africa | 0 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 3 / 4 | 75.00 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sri Lanka | 1 / 1 | 2 / 2 | 1 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 1 / 1 | 5 / 6 | 83.33 | |||||||||||||||||
| West Indies | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 6 | 0.00 | ||||||||||||||||
| Z'babwe | 0 / 1 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 4 | 0.00 |
There's a lot of ODI cricket coming up: Zimbabwe continue their series against Bangladesh, England host a 7-match ODI home series against Australia, India join New Zealand in Sri Lanka for a tri-series ... and then there's the Champions Trophy starting immediately thereafter in South Africa.