Australia's LG ICC ODI Championship lead not under threat in NatWest Series

Australia goes into the NatWest Series against England and Bangladesh with the highest ever rating in the LG ICC One-Day International Championship.

Its rating of 140 is four points higher that when it won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003 and its lead at the top of the official table is such that even if it loses all of its matches against England and Bangladesh it will still hold a comfortable 13-point advantage over its nearest rival, Sri Lanka.

England, currently sixth in the LG ICC table, can close the gap on the top five with a winning series. If England makes the final without losing a game it will climb from 103 to 111 points, one point less than Pakistan and South Africa. A victory in the final would see England overtake both of these sides.

In the LG ICC Player Rankings Ricky Ponting must perform well to hold on to number one spot in the ODI batting. His closest rival going into the series is teammate Adam Gilchrist while Andrew Flintoff, fifth, is the highest ranked English batsman.

Flintoff has a chance to become the only player to feature in both batting and bowling ODI top tens if he has a good series with the ball. He is currently the second ranked English bowler in 11th place, one place behind Darren Gough. The leading ODI bowler is currently Australia's Glenn McGrath while his teammates Brett Lee, fourth, and Jason Gillespie, sixth are also in the top ten.

The highest ranked Bangladeshi in the LG ICC ODI Player Rankings is bowler Mohammad Rafiq who will be looking to improve on 29th place over the course of the series.