New Zealand and India to battle it out for third

Either New Zealand or India will climb to third place in the official One Day International ratings if they dominate the forthcoming tri-series with leaders Australia.

The series starts with a head-to-head between India and New Zealand in Chennai on Thursday and a win for the away side will propel it to third in the table.

If India wins the opener and goes on to win its second match against Australia in Gwalior on Sunday it will jump five places in the standings into third position.

Australia and South Africa are comfortably clear at the top of the official ODI table but below them only three rating points separate England, currently third, and India, currently eighth.

If New Zealand, currently sixth, can win all six matches on the way to the tri-series final on 18 November it will sneak ahead of South Africa by one point.

While a successful series would see India or New Zealand climb to third, a poor series for either side could cast them adrift in eighth place. Going into the series New Zealand's rating is 106 and India's 104 but a run of defeats could see either side fall below 100.

The injury-hit Australia side will be looking to preserve its lead and if it makes the final it will maintain a significant gap at the top.

In the worst case scenario for the leaders that it loses all of its matches it will still cling on to first place in the table with a rating of 122, only four ahead of South Africa.

Ranjan Madugalle from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Referees will officiate on the series while David Shepherd from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Neil Mallender from the Emirates International Panel of Umpires will stand in alternate matches alongside officials appointed by the home board.

How the ICC ODI ratings work:

The formula used by the ICC to determine points takes into account the following factors:

- results from all ODI matches played over the previous two to three years
- strength of opposition, with greater reward for beating higher ranked opponents
- greater importance is placed on more recent results, with older matches dropped every 12 months
- all matches have equal status, with no account taken of venue or margin of victory

The points awarded are then divided by the number of matches played in the valid period to produce a rating.

For the full formula and to predict the impact future results will have on the ratings visit www.icc.cricket.org

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