The West Indies will be eyeing the opportunity to wrest back the lead against Pakistan in the ICC ODI team rankings table when it plays in a tri-series featuring Sri Lanka and host Zimbabwe from November 14 to 27.
Pakistan had overtaken the West Indies to eighth position after a 3-0 win in a recent series in the United Arab Emirates but four league matches in the upcoming tri-series as well as a potential final could help the West Indies surge ahead as the two former world champions vie for automatic places in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
Host England and the seven highest-ranked sides on the ICC ODI team rankings as on 30 September 2017 will qualify directly for the World Cup while the bottom four sides will compete with six other sides from the ICC World Cricket League in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018. The top two sides from the Qualifier will complete the 10-team line-up for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
The West Indies, which is just one point behind Pakistan with 88 points, could go up to 92 points if it wins all four league matches. A win in the final against higher-ranked Sri Lanka after winning all its league matches will lift it to 94 points, within one point of seventh-ranked Bangladesh.
Wins against Sri Lanka will earn more points for the West Indies because it is 13 points behind Sri Lanka and the rankings system is weighted to reflect this difference.
If the West Indies loses a match each to both teams, it will slip to 87 points unless it goes on to win the final against Sri Lanka, in which case it will move up to 89 points but remain behind Pakistan on decimal points. If it qualifies for the final in such a scenario but beats Zimbabwe in the final, it will find itself on 87 points.
In the individual rankings, spinner Sunil Narine will be working towards moving back to the top in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for ODI Bowlers. Narine, who was at the top for almost a year before he was overtaken last month by Trent Boult is only 10 points behind the New Zealand pace bowler.
Captain Jason Holder (24th) will be another bowler to look out for in the West Indies team, while the absence of injured captain Angelo Mathews (26th) and spinner Sachithra Senanayake (28th) will see pace bowler Suranga Lakmal leading the Sri Lanka bowlers in 35th position.
In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen led by South Africa’s AB de Villiers, West Indies batsman Darren Bravo (45th) will be the highest-ranked in the tournament after experienced Marlon Samuels (25th) was not picked for the tri-series.
For Sri Lanka, Lahiru Thirimanne (46th) will be the highest ranked batsman in the absence of Mathews (20th) and vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal (39th), while for Zimbabwe, Sean Williams will be the highest-ranked batsman at 54th position.
