Good opportunity for New Zealand to close ground

New Zealand goes into the five One Day International series against Pakistan starting in Auckland on 3 January aiming to close the gap on its nearest rivals in the official ODI ratings.

New Zealand currently lies eighth in the official table but a strong performance on home soil could help it climb up to sixth.

If the home side wins the series 5-0 it will boost its rating to 105, ahead of West Indies (101) and India, which is also on 105 but would fall below New Zealand when the ratings are recalculated to three decimal places.

In this instance Pakistan would also finish the series with a rating of 105, ahead of New Zealand by virtue of the same recalculation.

New Zealand has not played a home series since it beat India 5-2 almost exactly 12 months ago. It will need the same margin of victory against Pakistan - 4-1 in this instance - to guarantee a climb up to seventh place. Anything less and it will remain in eighth.

Pakistan is currently third in the official table and a successful series will enable it to put pressure on second placed South Africa.

South Africa has been second in the ratings since they were launched in October 2002 but a 5-0 victory would lift Pakistan to within four points of Graeme Smith's team - the closest any side has been since that first month.