New Zealand and Sri Lanka in a battle to move up the ICC ODI Championship

New Zealand will take on Sri Lanka in a five-match ODI series starting in Christchurch on Saturday, 26 December, with both the sides knowing that they have an opportunity to move up the ICC ODI Championship, provided they win the series by 4-1 or better.

If fourth-ranked New Zealand wins the series by 4-1 or better, then it will move ahead of South Africa into third place. If fifth-ranked Sri Lanka wins the series by the same margin, then it will swap places with New Zealand.

New Zealand, the finalist of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, has not played ODI cricket since August and will need to revive its shorter game skills. With 22 wins and 11 defeats in 35 home ODIs against Sri Lanka, New Zealand clearly has the edge.

In contrast, Sri Lanka has been in top ODI form with a 3-0 home victory over the West Indies last month.

The ICC ODI Championship table is updated after each match. To find out how the series will affect the table, please use the predictor function, which is availablehere.

Meanwhile, in the ICC ODI Player Rankings, Kane Williamson has been in tremendous form, which is reflected in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen. The Black Caps’ batsman is in third place, behind number-one ranked AB de Villiers and second-ranked Virat Kohli.

Williamson, the top ODI run-scorer this calendar year, is just 16 points behind India’s Test captain and has an opportunity to achieve second position for the first time in his career, provided he performs strongly in the series.

Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan is just eight points behind Williamson, and is also presented with a similar chance of moving to as high as second.

Ross Taylor could potentially catch up with India’s limited-overs captain MS Dhoni, and jump from eighth to sixth, as only 13 points separate the two.

And a quick scan of the batsmen’s rankings shows Martin Guptill (15th) is not too far off the mark in attempting to break into the top 10. Brendon McCullum would be keen to make an upward movement from his current 29th position, while Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Thirimanne is on a career-high 31st spot.

Amongst the bowlers, New Zealand will be resting its premier fast bowler Trent Boult for the first three ODIs. But on his return, Boult will be in hot pursuit of the number-two spot, currently held by the Player of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, Mitchell Starc. Boult is the third most successful bowler in ODIs this year, with 36 wickets to date.

Other bowlers featuring in the series and looking to improve their positions include Sachithra Senanayake, who is a good eight spots below his personal career-best ranking of seventh. Seventh is also the top ranking achieved by Lasith Malinga, who currently occupies the 23rd position.

Amongst the all-rounders, Dilshan is in second position, but his team-mate Angelo Mathews has the chance to go ahead of Mohammad Hafeez, and take sole ownership of the number-three spot.

Series schedule

26 Dec – 1st ODI, Christchurch
28 Dec – 2nd ODI, Christchurch
31 Dec – 3rd ODI, Nelson
2 Jan – 4th ODI, Nelson
5 Jan – 5th ODI, Maunganui

ICC ODI Team Championship(as on 24 December, before the start of New Zealand-Sri Lanka series)

Rank Team Points
1 Australia 127
2 India 114
3 South Africa 112
4 New Zealand 109
5 Sri Lanka 105
6 England 101
7 Bangladesh 97
8 Pakistan 87
9 West Indies 86
10 Zimbabwe 46
11 Ireland 46
12 Afghanistan 45

(Developed by David Kendix)

ICC ODI Player Rankings (as on 24 December, before the start of New Zealand-Sri Lanka series)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank Player Team Points Avge HS Ranking
1 AB de Villiers SA 900 54.21 902 v NZ at Auckland 2015
2 Virat Kohli Ind 804 50.60 886 v Ban at Fatullah 2014
3 K. Williamson NZ 788 48.02 798 v SA at Centurion 2015
4 T. Dilshan SL 780 39.62 802 v Sco at Hobart 2015
5 Hashim Amla SA 776 52.70 901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012
6 MS Dhoni Ind 741 52.26 836 v Aus at Delhi 2009
7 S. Dhawan Ind 730 42.93 794 v SA at Melbourne 2015
8 Ross Taylor NZ 728 43.91 743 v Zim at Harare 2015
9 Glenn Maxwell Aus 717 34.88 724 v Pak at Adelaide 2015
10= Faf du Plessis SA 715! 39.65 715 v Ind at Mumbai 2015
Q. de Kock SA 715 39.86 749 v Aus at Sydney 2014

Selected rankings (top 50)

Rank Player Team Points Avge HS Ranking
15 M Guptill NZ 678 41.16 688 v SA at Potchefstroom 2015
21 A Mathews SL 643 39.94 707 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014
29 B McCullum NZ 606 30.30 685 v Eng at Auckland 2013
31 L Thirimanne SL 595 34.65 599 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015
40 C Anderson NZ 553 35.30 604 v Ind at Hamilton 2014
46 K Perera SL 547 27.36 547 v WI at Pallekele 2015

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank Player Team Points Avge Eco. Highest Ranking
1 Sunil Narine WI 734 26.05 4.07 791 v SL at Jamaica 2013
2 Mitchell Starc Aus 713 19.65 4.85 783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015
3 Trent Boult NZ 705 24.08 4.64 738 v Eng at The Oval 2015
4 S Al Hasan Ban 699 27.89 4.30 717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009
5 Imran Tahir SA 688 22.94 4.49 735 v SL at Sydney 2015
6 Dale Steyn SA 682 25.93 4.86 746 v Ind at Durban 2013
7 M Johnson Aus 672 25.26 4.83 724 v Ban at Darwin 2008
8 Morne Morkel SA 666 23.98 4.90 717 v SL at East London 2012
9 Saeed Ajmal Pak 642 22.73 4.18 810 v SA at Centurion 2013
10 R Ashwin Ind 640 31.27 4.81 691 v SL at Hambantota 2012

Selected rankings (top 50)

Rank Player Team Points Avge Eco. Highest Ranking
15 S Senanayake SL 596 34.94 4.74 656 v NZ at Christchurch 2015
22 S Lakmal SL 560 29.71 5.56 563 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015
23 L Malinga SL 557 27.77 5.26 675 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2007
24 T Southee NZ 556 31.65 5.33 638 v Eng at Wellington 2015
29 A Mathews SL 554 34.77 4.61 649 v Ind at Trinidad 2013
44 M McClenaghan NZ 500 28.97 6.07 603 v SL at Christchurch 2015
49 Adam Milne NZ 495 38.75 5.00 495 v SA at Durban 2015

All- Rounder (Top 5)

Rank Player Team Points Highest Ranking
1 S Al Hasan Ban 416 453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009
2 T Dilshan SL 366 415 v Sco at Hobart 2015
3= M Hafeez Pak 356 438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013
A Mathews SL 356 427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014
5 G Maxwell Aus 348 351 v Eng at Headingley 2015