England will be presented with the Reliance ICC One-Day International Shield at Cardiff on Friday as the number-one ranked side at the annual update of the rankings, but South Africa will get an opportunity to take top spot in the Reliance ICC ODI Championship table in a five-ODI series that starts on Friday 24 August.
Former ICC President David Morgan will be joined by David Collier, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chief Executive, in presenting the Shield to England ODI captain Alastair Cook at the SWALEC Stadium, one of three venues for the ICC Champions Trophy 2013.
Following this year’s annual update, England had become the number-one ranked ODI side, leading second-placed South Africa by one-sixth of a rating point. But if South Africa goes on to win the first match in the series then it will become the first country to hold the number-one rankings spot in all the formats of the game at the same time, having deposed England as the top ranked Test team in the series that finished on Monday.
However, to hold on to the number-one ranking, AB de Villiers’ South Africa needs to win the series against England by 3-2 or better. In case of a 5-0 series win for South Africa, Cook’s England will drop to 112 ratings points. In contrast, if England makes a clean sweep of the series, then it will consolidate its hold on the number-one rank, pushing South Africa down to 108 ratings points.
However, England and South Africa’s final position on the table will be determined by the outcome in the three-ODI Pakistan-Australia series scheduled to be held from 28 August to 2 September in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
The England-South Africa and Australia-Pakistan series will feature five of the top 10 ranked players in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, including number-one ranked Hashim Amla, de Villiers (in third), Cook at sixth, Jonathan Trott (in seventh) and Michael Clarke (in eighth).
In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, South Africa fast bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe will eye an opportunity to consolidate his number-one position. Tsotsobe is followed by Pakistan's spin duo of Mohammad Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal. Three others from the top 10, Morne Morkel (in fourth), Steven Finn (in sixth) and seventh-ranked Graeme Swann, will also be in action in the upcoming series.
In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders, third-ranked Hafeez and Shahid Afridi in fourth will eye improvements.
The player rankings will now be updated on 6 September, after the conclusion of the Pakistan-Australia and England-South Africa ODI series.
By Indian Sports News Network
