Australia, who are currently engaged against England in a five-match ODI series and are 2-0 down in the series, got some more bad news.
Ahead of the crucial third ODI at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, Australia achieved what is to be their lowest ranking in 34 years of ODI cricket. They arrived in Nottingham as the sixth-ranked ODI team and will be looking to turn things around in this match, in order to avoid second consecutive ODI series loss against England, who beat them 4-1 in Australia earlier.
The current defending world champions’ have not had a good time ever since the ball-tampering scandal hit them and they lost two of their best batsmen in Steve Smith and David Warner to one-year bans each. They lost the Test series to South Africa under the leadership of Tim Paine and now trail 2-0 against England in the five-match ODI series.
The latest International Cricket Council ODI rankings were released on Sunday and confirmed that Australia achieved their lowest ODI ranking since January of 1984.
Pakistan overtook Australia to reach no.5 spot, behind the top four of England, India, South Africa and New Zealand. Australia since won just nine of 23 completed ODIs, eight of those at home and have a stretch of 13 defeats in 15 completed ODIs.
It is not only the absence of Smith and Warner that is hurting Australia; but the premier quick bowlers like Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood have also missed considerable match time due to injuries.
England destroyed the replacement bowling unit of AJ Tye, Jhye Richardson, and Kane Richardson to score 342/8 in the second ODI at Cardiff, their highest ODI score against Australia.
Shaun Marsh's magnificent 131 was the highlight for the tourists but it wasn't enough to prevent a 34-run defeat.
Latest ICC one-day international rankings:
1. England- 124 points
2. India- 122 points
3. South Africa- 113 points
4. New Zealand- 112 points
5. Pakistan- 102 points
6. Australia- 102 points
7. Bangladesh- 93 points
8. Sri Lanka- 77 points
9. West Indies- 69 points
10. Afghanistan- 63 points
11. Zimbabwe- 55 points
12. Ireland 38- points
13. Scotland 33- points
14. United Arab Emirates- 18 points
