Pak takes on England with one eye on ICC Cricket World Cup 2019

KARACHI, Nov 9 (APP): England plus seven other top-ranked sides,
looks as on September 30, 2017, to qualify directly for the ICC’s pinnacle
50-over tournament, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on
Monday.
“Pakistan can gain as many as five points while England can earn
two points if it wins 4-0,” said an ICC media release.
Root enters series as the highest-ranked batsman while Irfan is
the highest-ranked bowler.
The 4-match One Day Internationals (ODIs) series explode into
action at Sheikh Zayed Stadium Abu Dhabi on Wednesday in which the greet shirts bids to gain crucial points on the ICC ODI Team Rankings.
Eighth-ranked Pakistan is currently sitting on 88 points as
compared to sixth-ranked England’s 100 points. With England, plus
seven other top-ranked sides as on 30 September 2017, set to qualify
directly for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, the only way Pakistan can
move up the order is by winning matches against the higher-ranked
sides.
As such, a 4-0 series win against England will earn Pakistan
five points, while a 3-1 victory will mean a gain of three rankings
points. It will earn only one point if the series ends in a two-all
draw.
An England series win will mean Pakistan will lose points. If
England sweeps the series, like it did in 2012, then Pakistan will
drop to 86 points, while it will concede one point if England wins
3-1.
As far as England is concerned, it can rise to as high as 102
points, but will slip behind Bangladesh in seventh place by a fraction
of a point, if it loses 4-0 and Bangladesh wins the third ODI against
Zimbabwe on Monday.
Pakistan’s last series win against England was on home turf in
December 2005 when it won 3-2.
The series permutations are:
Pakistan 4 England 0 – Pakistan 93 points England 95 points
Pakistan 3 England 1 – Pakistan 91 points England 96 points
Pakistan 2 England 2 – Pakistan 89 points England 99 points
Pakistan 1 England 3 – Pakistan 87 points England 101 points
Pakistan 0 England 4 – Pakistan 86 points England 102 points
In the ICC ODI Player Rankings, no batsman from either side
features in the top 10. Joe Root is the highest-ranked batsman in 11th
position, followed by captain Eoin Morgan (21st) and wicketkeeper Jos
Buttler (23rd).
Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez is 30th, while Ahmed Shehzad is 32nd.
AB de Villiers of South Africa is the number-one ranked batsman,
while Virat Kohli of India is second and Kane Williamson of New
Zealand third.
In the bowling chart, Pakistan’s Mohammad Irfan, in 14th place,
is the highest-ranked bowler from either side, followed by Moeen Ali
of England (31st) and Wahab Riaz (49th).
Sunil Narine of the West Indies is the top-ranked bowler and he
is followed by Mitchell Starc of Australia and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al
Hasan.
Meanwhile, the recently-concluded series between Sri Lanka and
West Indies has resulted in gains for a number of players.
In the batting table, Marlon Samuels has moved up three places to
34th and Kusal Perera has climbed seven places to 43rd, while in the
bowling, Suranga Lakmal has achieved a career-best ranking of 23rd
after rising six places and Lasith Malinga has vaulted four places to
24th.
The 3-0 series win as earned Sri Lanka five points and it is
now on 105 points, while the West Indies has slipped to 86 after
dropping two points.

ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on November 9):

Rank Team Points

1 Australia 127

2 India 114

3 South Africa 112

4 New Zealand 109

5 Sri Lanka 105

6 England 100

7 Bangladesh 96

8 Pakistan 88

9 West Indies 86

10 Zimbabwe 46

11 Ireland 46

12 Afghanistan 45

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