England and Sri Lanka will be out to cut the gap between themselves and the teams above them in the LG ICC ODI Championship. There are only two rating points between the home side, lying seventh, and the visitors, one place above it, but the gap between Sri Lanka and fifth-placed India is a much more substantial six points.
Neither England nor Sri Lanka can overhaul Rahul Dravid's side as a result of performances in this series but they can end it breathing down India's neck if one of them produces a string of positive results.
A 5-0 success for England will leave it just one point behind India, on 110 rating points while dropping Sri Lanka to 100 points; and if Sri Lanka can complete a clean sweep it will move to 109 points (England 97).
England also only needs a 3-2 success to jump above Mahela Jayawardene's line-up and into sixth place in the table while an identical margin of victory for Sri Lanka will see it extend its lead over England to three points, 105 to 102. Australia leads the LG ICC ODI Championship table, 13 rating points clear of South Africa, with Pakistan in third position, New Zealand fourth and India in fifth spot.
A look at the LG ICC Player Rankings gives an indication why England and Sri Lanka are nestling below that group, in mid-table, coming into this series as they have few players in the upper reaches of the lists.
England's Kevin Pietersen is the highest-ranked player on either side among the batsmen, in eighth position and with his best-ever haul of rating points, and he is one place ahead of Sri Lanka's wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara.
Below them, the next highest ranked player in the list on either side is Marcus Trescothick, the England opener, who lies in 19th position, ahead of Marvan Atapattu and Andrew Flintoff, both missing this series through injury.
Elsewhere, Sanath Jayasuriya is 22nd while England's acting captain in the absence of Michael Vaughan and Flintoff, Andrew Strauss, is 28th and Jayawardene is in 32nd spot.
Sri Lanka appears to have the edge with the ball with its two veteran stars, Muttiah Muralidaran and Chaminda Vaas the highest-placed players from either side in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, in ninth and 10 th places respectively.
England's top-ranked bowler is Stephen Harmison, recently back from a leg injury, in 15th spot while Flintoff is 17th and another injury victim, James Anderson, recovering from a stress fracture of the back, is 21st.
The batting list is headed by Adam Gilchrist of Australia ahead of the West Indies' Ramnaresh Sarwan, Ricky Ponting of Australia and India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The top-ranked bowler is Shaun Pollock of South Africa, clear of New Zealand's Shane Bond, with Glenn McGrath third and another New Zealander, Daniel Vettori, a place further back.
The top all-rounder is Pollock, ahead of Flintoff, while Jayasuriya is Sri Lanka's best-placed player in this category, in 10th position.
THE SCHEDULE FOR THE ENGLAND - SRI LANKA ODI SERIES IS AS FOLLOWS:
-- June 17: First ODI, Lord's, Sri Lanka won by 21 runs,
-- June 20: Second ODI, The Oval
-- 24 June 24: Third ODI, Chester-le-Street
-- 28 June 28: Fourth ODI, Old Trafford
-- July 1: Fifth ODI, Headingley.
LG ICC ODI CHAMPIONSHIP AHEAD OF THE ENGLAND - SRI LANKA SERIES:
=================================
Position Team Rating
---------------------------------
1 Australia 132
2 South Africa 119
3 Pakistan 114
4 New Zealand 113
5 India 111
6 Sri Lanka 105
7 England 103
8 West Indies 98
9 Zimbabwe 40
10 Bangladesh 23
11 Kenya 7
=================================
Comments
Comments are closed.