De Villiers and Amla top the charts

AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla will go to the World Cup as the top two batsmen in ODI cricket, following the release of the latest rankings by the ICC on Monday, February 2.

De Villiers retains his position at the top while Amla replaces India’s Virat Kholi in second place second, following the series against the West Indies where he was the top run-scorer.

Despite missing out the series against the West Indies due to injury, Quinton de Kock is the only other South African in the top 10, having dropped two places to number nine.

Both De Villiers and Amla will go into the tournament with great form after they enjoyed a particularly successful series against the West Indies.

Dale Steyn retained his third spot in the ODI bowling rankings, with Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal and West Indian Surine Narine, both spinners, ranking number one and two respectively.

SA Cricket Magazine reported, “Neither of them will, however, represent their countries at the World Cup. Both players pulled out of the tournament after failing to sufficiently remodel their bowling actions.”

Other South Africans among the top 10 include fast bowler Morne Morkel, who slips down one place to number 10. He is followed by spinner Imran Tahir who jumps eight places to slot in at number 11.

The ICC team rankings also revealed that Australia will be hosting the tournament as the number one ranked team in the world on 120 points. Australia co-host the World Cup with New Zealand.

The Proteas rank at number three with 113, six points behind the Aussies and only one behind India who are second.

ODI TEAM RANKINGS

ODI BATSMEN

Watch AB, Hashim, Dale, Vernon and Faf surprise one of their fans in the video below:

Other South Africans

ODI BOWLERS

Other South Africans