The spoils of victory: South Africa climb the one-day rankings © Getty Images Enlarge

South Africa's 4-1 series victory over England has enabled them to address their decline in the ICC One-Day Championship table. Prior to their victory in the third match at Port Elizabeth, South Africa had won just one match in their last 13 - and that had been against Bangladesh.

But now, after four wins and a washout in their last five games, they have climbed from seventh to fifth, and have overtaken England in the process. South Africa's rating has been boosted from 101 to 106, while England, who began the series in fourth place on 109 points, have slipped back to seventh, behind West Indies, who beat them in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in September.

There have been some significant changes in the one-day player rankings as well. Jacques Kallis was briefly rated as the best one-day batsman in the world, but slipped behind Ramnaresh Sarwan following a disappointing end to his series. But South Africa's other two leading players, Graeme Smith (14th in the batting) and Shaun Pollock (second, behind Glenn McGrath, in the bowling) both improved their rankings.

For England, Darren Gough made a welcome return to the top ten following an excellent series - he finished in eighth place - while Kevin Pietersen is already in 25th place in the batting, following his dramatic arrival in international cricket, which culminated in 454 runs in the seven-match series. England's only top-ten batsman is the injured Andrew Flintoff, because Marcus Trescothick has fallen 15 places to 20th, following his poor run of form.