Sangakkara and Cook make upward movements in ODI Rankings

Wednesday, 27 June 2012 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Kumar Sangakkara and Alastair Cook have made impressive gains in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen which were released on Sunday after the completion of Sri Lanka-Pakistan and England-West Indies series, and the Ireland-Australia ODI that was washed out on Saturday in Belfast.

Sangakkara is now ranked fourth after moving up two places, while Cook has joined Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Jonathan Trott in fifth position after rising two places.

Both Sangakkara and Cook played leading roles in their sides’ series wins. While Sangakkara scored 164 runs at an average of 41 and a top score of 97, Cook scored 112 runs in two matches, with one century.

In the Sri Lanka-Pakistan series, talented middle-order batsman Azhar Ali, who was the highest run-getter from either side with 217 runs in five games, is now ranked 81st (up by 48 places), while England’s comeback man Ian Bell has been rewarded for his 179 runs in two matches with a jump of 11 places to 49th.

The other batsmen to make movements are Chris Gayle in 31st (up by one), Angelo Mathews in 37th (up by 11) and Asad Shafiq in 68th (up by 13).

The batsmen who have slipped in the latest rankings are Tillekaratne Dilshan in 10th (down by two) and Mohammad Hafeez in 47th (down by nine).

Meanwhile, in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Lasith Malinga returned to the top 20, moving up a place from 21st, whereas Thisara Perera, who picked up 11 wickets in the series against Pakistan including a hat-trick and a best of six for 44, has moved up a place to 38th.

The other bowlers to head in the right direction are James Anderson in 15th (up by one), Shahid Afridi in 16th (up by two), Nuwan Kulasekara in 23rd (up by seven), Tim Bresnan in 30th (up by six), Darren Sammy in 44th (up by two), Mathews in 45th (up by one) and Sohail Tanvir in 50th (up by 25 places).

Both Mathews and Bresnan have also moved up in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders, which is still headed by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan. While Mathews has moved up a place to eighth, Bresnan is now 18th (up by four).

Meanwhile, in the Reliance ICC ODI Championship table, England and Sri Lanka are now on 112 ratings points each, but England is still ranked above Sri Lanka in fourth position when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point. Australia continues to head the table.

The Championship table and player rankings will next be updated on 17 July, a day after the conclusion of the England-Australia and the West Indies-New Zealand ODI series.