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Career-high ranking for De Kock

Cape Town - South Africa’s Quinton de Kock and a trio of Australia batsmen - Aaron Finch, James Faulkner and Steven Smith - have made advances in the latest ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen, which were released on Monday, a day after the four-time world champions won the series 4-1 to move ahead of India in the ICC ODI Team Rankings.

De Kock’s 109 in Sydney on Sunday, his sixth ODI century in 36 matches which later earned him the man-of-the-match award, has moved to a career-high seventh position, a rise of two places.

Australia opener Aaron Finch, who finished as the third highest run-getter in the series behind AB de Villiers (271) and Steven Smith (254) with 250 runs that included scores of 109 and 76 in the third and fifth ODIs, has vaulted six places to 15th. He’s now six ratings points behind Faf du Plessis of South Africa, who has slipped one place to 14th.

There were also positive movements for James Faulkner (up four places to 40th) and Steven Smith, who has vaulted 31 places to 50th after a consistent run of 10, 73 not out, 104 and 67, respectively, in his four appearances in the series. Smith was declared the player-of-the-series.

De Villiers has strengthened his grip on the No 1 batting ranking by extending his advantage of India’s Virat Kohli to 25 ratings points, with third-ranked Hashim Amla another 34 ratings points behind.

In the ICC Players Rankings for ODI Bowlers, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan is the biggest mover in the latest rankings, as he has rocketed 12 places to ninth spot. Shakib is involved in his country’s five-game ODI series against Bangladesh.

From the Australia-South Africa series, Mitchell Starc is the highest mover, jumping three places to a career-high 34th position, while Faulkner also moved three places to 48th.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka and England have an opportunity to gain vital rankings points when they go head to head in the first of seven ODIs which starts on Wednesday in Colombo.

Fourth-placed Sri Lanka currently hold a one-point lead over England, and can further increase their lead while also reducing the gap with third place South Africa. A 7-0 series win for Sri Lanka will put them ahead of South Africa by a fraction of a point and open up a 12-point gap over England, while a 6-1 win would see them remain in fourth place on 111 points, and hold a nine-point lead over England.

In a sharp contrast, if England win the series 7-0, they would rise two places to third on 113 rankings points, four adrift of joint leaders Australia and India. A 6-1 win would see England leapfrog Sri Lanka into fourth place on 111 ratings points, one ratings point behind third-ranked South Africa.

Meanwhile, on the eve of the series, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakarra is the highest-ranked batsman from either side in the ICC ODI Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen. The 37-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman lies in fifth place, and he will be looking to gain ground on India’s Shikhar Dhawan who is a single rating point ahead of him. The next best-ranked Sri Lanka batsmen are Tillakaratne Dilshan (9th) and Angelo Mathews (10th).

For England, Eoin Morgan (22nd), Cook (23rd) and Ian Bell (27th) are the top-ranked batsmen and will be aiming to head in the upward direction.

In the ICC Players Rankings for ODI Bowlers, Lancashire paceman James Anderson is the highest-ranked bowler on either side in fourth place, four places above his team-mate Steven Finn who lies in eighth position. Sri Lanka’s highest-ranked bowler is Rangana Herath (16th) while Mathews lies in 22nd place.

Ahead of the start of the series, in-form Mathews holds a nine-point advantage at the top of the ICC ODI Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders, with his team-mate Tillakaratne Dilshan in fifth place.

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