Big chance for England and India to move up LG ICC ODI Championship table

With the LG ICC ODI Championship tightly packed, India could conceivably rise as high as second or alternatively drop as low as eighth by the time its seven-match ODI series in England concludes in early September.

If fifth-placed Rahul Dravid's team beats England 7-0 or 6-1 it will move ahead of New Zealand into third position and depending how South Africa gets on in its three-ODI tour of Zimbabwe, it could even sneak into second spot.

The other side of the story is, however, that with just 13 ratings points separating third and eighth positions, India could also find itself sliding down the rankings just as quickly if things do not go according to plan over the next few weeks.

And likewise, eighth-placed England can shoot up the rankings to joint-second if it completes a series whitewash over Rahul Dravid's team and Zimbabwe is victorious over South Africa.

With India three places above England, it will have to win the series just to maintain its current rating such is the weighting system in place. But a 5-2 series win will push India above Sri Lanka into fourth position and 6-1 will give it 115 ratings points, one more than the Black Caps in third.

Zimbabwe can move above Ireland into tenth position by beating South Africa 3-0, a result that would see Graeme Smith's side drop ten points on the log.

As such, it seems the only teams assured of finishing this English summer in their current positions are Australia at the top, Kenya at the bottom and Bangladesh in ninth place.

The England v India series will also be an opportunity for some of the world's best players to move even closer to the very top. England's Kevin Pietersen can retake top spot in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen as he currently lies in second place, just four ratings points behind Australia captain Ricky Ponting.

Currently in fifth position, Mahendra Singh Dhoni can keep the pressure on Australia's Matthew Hayden and Mike Hussey while Dravid (13th) and Yuvraj Singh (18th) can improve on their positions inside the top 20.

With England's Andrew Flintoff set to make a return from injury during the series, it will be a chance for the 29-year-old all-rounder to remind the world of what he can do and no doubt he'll want to improve his standing in all three LG ICC ODI Player Rankings, for batsmen, bowlers and all-rounders.

Apart from Flintoff in 15th position, the only other bowler in this series currently in the top 20 is Ajit Agarkar (13th) with India's selectors favouring Ramesh Powar over Harbhajan Singh, who is currently in 18th place.

Shaun Pollock still tops the list in LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers from Nathan Bracken of Australia in second and Shane Bond in third. Pollock is also ranked number one in the all-rounders' list with team-mate Jacques Kallis in second and Sanath Jayasuriya third.