HARARE - The Zimbabwe national cricket players are paying a huge cost for their poor showing against Bangladesh in a One Day International (ODI) series with a number of key players compromising their positions on the top 100 world player rankings table. (Pictured: Hamilton Masakadza)
While Bangladesh was coasting towards a comprehensive 4 – 1 victory over Zimbabwe – which they managed to achieve in the end – the likes of Hamilton Masakadza, Mark Vermeulen, Ray Price, Elton Chigumbura and Sean Williams were losing points as they failed to maintain the impressive averages they had registered against Kenya in a previous series and this saw them lowering their spots on the rankings.
According to the latest Reliance Mobile ODI Championship Rankings – released on November 1 by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on November 1 – Masakadza has dropped one place in the batting world rankings to number 38, while Vermeulen has fallen two places from 40 to 42. Williams, the only other Zimbabwean batsman in the top 50, is now ranked
number 49 after going down seven places below his previous ranking of 42. In the bowling rankings, spinner Raymond Price is still rated among the topb 20 bowlers in the one day version of the game, despite slipping two places down from position 12 to 14. Prosper Utseya is number 27 while Edwarad Rainsford has a ranking of 63.
Despite being voted the man of the match in the opening match of the series on October 27 after inspiring Zimbabwe to a five wicket victory over Bangladesh, all-rounder Chigumbura dropped to 72 from 64 in the bowling rankings while he now has a ranking of 54 in the batting section. Chigumbura, who is a valuable asset to the team, will however take solace in
the fact that he is rated among the top 20 all-rounders in ODIs with a ranking of 17. Zimbabwe are still on number 10 with 787 points on the 12-team table and series defeat means that they have failed to leapfrog Bangladesh, who are 9th. Ireland are still ranked lower than Zimbabwe while Kenya still anchor the table with a mere 28 points.
According to the rankings, Australia are the best ODI team in the world with 4 732 points while India and South Africa are second and third respectively. The Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship Rankings are released periodically by the ICC to the international media and are widely regarded by national team selectors and cricket authorities as an accurate barometer in gauging the performance of cricketers.
Post published in: Cricket