World champion Australia extend lead over India in ODIs

Dubai: World Cup winner Australia has doubled its lead over second-ranked India on the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings from six to 12 points while the West Indies, Bangladesh and Pakistan are now locked in a tight struggle for the remaining two slots in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.

The cut-off date is 30 September 2015.

In the T20I update, World T20 champion Sri Lanka has extended its lead over second-ranked India to 11 points.

The ICC Champions Trophy 2017 will be played from 1 to 19 June in England and Wales, and the host country (England), plus the next seven highest-ranked ODI sides will participate in the event.

The annual update is carried out to ensure the table continues to reflect results from the last three years. As such, results from 2011-12 have been dropped while the results from 2013-14 have been reduced to a weighting of 50 per cent.

The updated rankings now see a battle between the West Indies (seventh, 88 points), Bangladesh (eighth, 88 points) and Pakistan (ninth, 87 points). The three sides are separated by one point and will be vying for the last two places in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, adding significant interest to their ODIs in the lead up to the cut-off date.

The annual ODI update has also seen New Zealand and England head in opposite directions. World Cup runner-up New Zealand has made the biggest move, jumping eight points to be third-ranked ahead of South Africa. In contrast, England has had the biggest fall as it has surrendered seven points, dropping to sixth-ranked, 12 points behind fifth-ranked Sri Lanka.

In the T20 rankings, the top three positions in the updated table are unchanged while the West Indies has gained two places to rise to fourth, pushing Pakistan into fifth spot. South Africa has also slipped two places to seventh, allowing New Zealand to move up one place to sixth.

Australia and West Indies have gained five points each while Netherlands has conceded eight, Scotland seven and South Africa six points.

The annual Test Championship update will be released after the completion of West Indies versus England and Bangladesh versus Pakistan series.