England players have made significant gains in the latest MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings after an impressive 5-0 series whitewash of Australia that exhibited the top-ranked side’s potential a year ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, to be held in England and Wales from 30 May to 14 July.
Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Jason Roy lead the charge in the list of batsmen with some fine efforts in recent matches. Bairstow has moved up four places to 11th position in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings for batsmen after aggregating 300 runs in the Australia series, which followed a fighting 105 against Scotland. Player of the Series Buttler has gained two spots to reach 16th place with 275 runs against Australia including an unbeaten 110 in the final match while Roy has moved up three places to 20th position.
Alex Hales (up one place to 22nd) and captain Eoin Morgan (up one place to 24th) are the others to advance for England while Australia’s Travis Head (up three places to 19th) has benefitted after aggregating 194 runs in the series.
England spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali finished with 12 wickets each in the series and that has reflected in the latest rankings update, which also takes into account the one-off match in Edinburgh which saw Scotland pull off a surprise six-run win over England.
Rashid, who achieved a career-best 677 ratings points after the third ODI in which he grabbed four for 47, has gained three places to finish in eighth position. Ali has moved up 13 places to 12th position, capping the series with a fine spell of four for 46 in the last match.
Mark Wood (up five places to 28th) and David Willey (up 23 places to 43rd) are the others to move up for England while Australia pace bowler Mark Watt has gained 26 places to finish the series in 67th position. For Australia, Kane Richardson’s six wickets in three matches have helped him move from 84th to 77th position.
For Scotland, Calum MacLeod’s unbeaten 140 not only won him the Player of the Match award, but has also helped him gain 20 places to reach a career-best 35th position among batsmen. Matthew Cross has also gained nine slots to reach 103rd rank after scoring a useful 48 runs in the match.
Among their bowlers, Mark Watt (up 26 places to 67th) and Alasdair Evans (up five places to 85th) are the significant gainers.
Meanwhile, Australia have slipped to sixth place in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings after losing four points in the England series and finishing on 100 points, two points behind Pakistan.
England have recovered to finish with 126 points after slipping from 125 to 123 points with their loss to Scotland in the one-off ODI preceding this series. England are currently four points ahead of second-placed India, who they play in a three-match home series from 12 to 17 July. England will retain the top spot even if they lose the India series 2-1 but a 3-0 loss will see India back at the top of the table.
The ODI team rankings, unlike the Test rankings, are updated after each match.
