South Africa can overtake England with ODI series win

South Africa goes into the series of seven home One-Day International matches against England with an opportunity to climb from seventh to fourth in the official LG ICC ODI Championship table.

South Africa slumped from second to sixth in the official ODI table when the rankings were refreshed last August and slipped further down the standings after a poor showing in the ICC Champions Trophy.

It will begin the series five points behind the West Indies, seven behind Pakistan and eight behind England. But as every match between evenly matched opponents in the LG ICC ODI Championship is worth around two ratings points, it can overtake England and possibly climb to fourth if it wins the series at least 5-2.

Even with a 7-0 victory England would still be one point behind third-placed Sri Lanka in the official table. It will be more concerned about keeping ahead of the chasing pack and a 5-2 winning margin will be enough to ensure it remains fourth unless there is a major upset in the VB Series final in Australia.

Elsewhere, if Bangladesh wins the two remaining matches of its home series against Zimbabwe it will improve its rating to 11 points while Zimbabwe's rating would fall to 51. If Zimbabwe wins these matches, it will climb to 57 points while Bangladesh will remain in last place on 5 points.

For full details of the members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Referees appointed to officiate on forthcoming international series visit the umpires and referees section of the ICC website.

For details of the ICC ODI Championship and to predict the outcome of future series visit the ODI cricket page of the ICC website. (Note: the `Predictor' will show the full scenarios for the South Africa v England series once the VB series has been completed).