Finch achieves career-best ranking

[Basil]

Finch achieves career-best ranking​

Australia heading in right direction ahead of ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014

Australia opener Aaron Finch jumped five places to a career-best third position in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I Batsmen, which were released a day after the home side beat England by 84 runs in Sydney to sweep the series 3-0.

Finch notched up 92 runs in three matches to move up the batting table. He is now on 772 ratings points, 23 behind England’s Alex Hales who has dropped down a place to hand the top spot back to New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum.

Meanwhile, Cameron White and George Bailey are the biggest movers outside the top 20 as all the leading players continue their preparations for the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 which starts on 16 March.

White has jumped 13 places to 24th after ending as the leading run-getter with 174 runs. Bailey, on the other hand, has jumped 33 places to a best-ever 28th spot after logging 123 runs to finish as the second highest run-getter.

The only England batsmen to make upward movements are Ravi Bopara in 55th place (up by 14) and Jos Buttler in 70th (up by six).

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I bowlers, England’s Stuart Broad has moved up four places to 13th while Tim Bresnan is now in 33rd position after leaping 11 places.

However, Nathan Coulter-Nile, who was the leading wicket-taker in the series with seven wickets, has made the biggest jump when he has rocketed 111 places to a best-ever 68th. Coulter-Nile’s teammate, Mitchell Starc has also moved up the charts, rising 17 places to a best-ever 24th.

The bowlers’ table is still headed by West Indies’ Sunil Narine with Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal in second place and Nathan McCullum of New Zealand in third position.

Shane Watson’s absence from the series has helped Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez to claim the number-one ranking on the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I all-rounders, for the first-time in his career.

Mohammad Hafeez also tops the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders.


Meanwhile, Australia is shaping up well in pursuit of an elusive ICC World Twenty20 title after sweeping its series against former ICC World Twenty20 winner England. The series result has helped Australia jump to sixth position, while pushing England into eighth spot on the Reliance ICC T20I Team Rankings Table.

Australia has won four ICC Cricket World Cup titles (1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007) and two ICC Champions Trophy crowns (2006 and 2009) but its best finish in the ICC World Twenty20 has been in the West Indies in 2010 where it ended up runner-up to England.

Australia will now play three T20Is against South Africa on 9, 12 and 14 March before heading off to Bangladesh where the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 will start on 16 March.

Australia is in Group 2 of the Super 10 stage along with defending champion West Indies, former winners India and Pakistan, and will also be joined by the side that tops Group A in the first round. Australia will open its campaign against Pakistan in Dhaka on 23 March.

England, in contrast, is in Group 1 along with Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand, and will be also joined by the side that tops Group A in the first round. England will play all its Super 10 stage matches in Chittagong with its first match against New Zealand on 22 March.