Eighth-ranked West Indies will aim to create some daylight between itself and ninth-ranked Pakistan on the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings when it hosts world champion Australia and third-ranked South Africa in a tri-series from 3-26 June. A total of 10 matches will be played in the triple league format with the top two sides progressing to the final.
West Indies leads Pakistan by just one point on the ODI team rankings, but trails Australia by 36 points and South Africa by 24 points. As such, because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, every West Indies win over Australia or South Africa will earn it valuable points.
If Australia remains unbeaten in the series, then they will collect five points and move to 129 points, while South Africa will gain six points and rise to 118 points if it makes a clean sweep of the series. However, West Indies will vault from 88 points to 106 points (a gain of 18 points) if it wins all its seven matches.
Even if the West Indies wins one match each against Australia and South Africa, then they will move from 88 points to 91 points, thus opening up a four-point advantage over Pakistan.
With England and the next seven highest-ranked sides on the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings on 30 September 2017 to qualify directly for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, any points earned by the sides in the lead up to the cut-off date will be critical in determining which sides progress automatically for the ICC’s pinnacle 50-over tournament and which sides battle out for the two remaining positions by featuring in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018.
Meanwhile, South Africa captain AB de Villiers and Sunil Narine of the West Indies will start the ODI season as the number-one batsman and bowler, respectively. De Villiers leads India’s Virat Kohli, who will miss the Zimbabwe tour, by 75 points, while third-ranked Hashim Amla and fourth-ranked Quinton de Kock are separated by just three points. Just outside the top 10, in 11th position, is Faf du Plessis.
Australia has no batsman inside the top 10 but occupies batting slots from 14-18. Glen Maxwell is his side’s highest-ranked batsman in 14th position, followed by David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith and George Bailey. The five batsmen are separated by just 13 points.
West Indies’ Marlon Samuels is his highest-ranked batsman in 32nd position. He is followed by Lendl Simmons (47th), Darren Bravo (51st) and Johnson Charles (59th).
In the bowlers’ chart, a returning Mitchell Starc is the second highest-ranked bowler to feature in the tri-series after Narine. Starc, who was adjudged the player of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, last played an ODI against England in Manchester in 2015 and will start in fourth place – 49 points behind Narine.
In Imran Tahir and Morne Morkel, South Africa has two bowlers who occupy sixth and eighth positions respectively and are separated by 19 points. In 14th place is Kagiso Rabada, 60 points behind Morkel.
| Date | Fixture | Venue |
| 3 June | West Indies v South Africa | Providence |
| 5 June | West Indies v Australia | Providence |
| 7 June | Australia v South Africa | Providence |
| 11 June | Australia v South Africa | Basseterre |
| 13 June | West Indies v Australia | Basseterre |
| 15 June | West Indies v South Africa | Basseterre |
| 19 June | Australia v South Africa | Bridgetown |
| 21 June | West Indies v Australia | Bridgetown |
| 24 June | West Indies v South Africa | Bridgetown |
| 26 June | Final | Bridgetown |
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