Ireland move to 10th spot in one-day rankings

After ending the World Cup on a high note with two victories and a tie, debutants Ireland are now ranked tenth in the latest one-day rankings list released by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Ireland, an associate member (non Test playing country), surprised everybody in the World Cup by qualifying for the Super Eight stage. The Irishmen were in Group D and defeated Pakistan and tied with Zimbabwe in the first round of the tournament. The wins against two Test playing countries helped Ireland qualify for the one-day rankings.

In the Super Eight stage they also managed a victory beating Bangladesh.

"This really is a magnificent achievement by the Irish guys. It shows that they have certainly worked hard, risen to the occasion and made the very most of and learnt from their increased opportunities," said Matthew Kennedy, ICC's global development manager.

"It proves that serious cricketing achievement is possible from within this next tier of nations. Depth and sustainability, and continued opportunity and support, is obviously the key and that is what we will continue to strive for," he said.

Once an associate member plays at least ten one-day matches, it has the opportunity to be promoted to the main table. To gain this promotion, an associate member must either achieve two wins against Test playing countries or achieve one win against a Test playing country and also have won more than 60 percent of matches against other associates.

To put this into perspective, when Sri Lanka were given a Test status they had one ODI win against a Test playing country from five matches over a period of four years; Zimbabwe had two ODI wins over Test playing countries from 20 matches over a nine-year period while Bangladesh had one ODI win against a Test playing nation from 33 matches over a 14-year period.

In accordance with a previous ICC decision, Ireland has ODI status until 2009, a status also enjoyed by the top six associate members, the others being Kenya, Scotland, the Netherlands, Canada and Bermuda.

One-day rankings:

1. Australia 1292. South Africa 1253. New Zealand 1154. Sri Lanka 1105. Pakistan 1106. India 1067. England 1048. West Indies 999. Bangladesh 4510. Ireland 2911. Zimbabwe 2212. Kenya 0

(IANS)

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