Australia have now passed South Africa to regain the top spot on the ICC ODI rankings. Here is the current ODI team rankings and the four best teams in the world are the fourth highest ranked teams so maybe the system does work.

ODI TEAM RANKINGS

1. Australia - 50 matches - 6375 points - Rating 128
2. South Africa - 40 matches - 5017 points - Rating 125
3. New Zealand - 41 matches - 4730 points - Rating 115
4. Sri Lanka - 49 matches - 5391 points - Rating 110
5. Pakistan - 36 matches - 3950 points - Rating 110
6. India - 50 matches - 5320 points - Rating 106
7. England - 40 matches - 4120 points - Rating 103
8. West Indies - 45 matches - 4503 points - Rating 100
9. Bangladesh - 40 matches - 1821 points - Rating 46
10. Zimbabwe - 36 matches - 779 points - Rating 22
11. Kenya - 11 matches - 0 points - Rating 0

PLAYER RANKINGS

ODI Batsman

1. K.P. Pietersen - ENG - Rating 808
2. R.T. Ponting - AUS - Rating 786
3. M.E.K. Hussey - AUS - Rating 766
4. S.T. Jayasuriya - SL - Rating 761
5. G.C. Smith - SA - Rating 757
6. M.S. Dhoni - IND - Rating 739
7. J.H. Kallis - SA - Rating 725
8. M.L. Hayden - AUS - Rating 722
9. K.C. Sangakkara - SL - Rating 721
10. A. Symonds - AUS - Rating 715
11. A.C. Gilchrist - AUS - Rating 714
12. Mohammad Yousuf - PAK - Rating 713
13. R. Dravid - IND - Rating 709
14. C.H. Gayle - WI - Rating 708
15. M.J. Clarke - AUS - Rating 706

ODI Bowlers

1. S.M. Pollock - SA - Rating 895
2. S.E. Bond - NZ - Rating 804
3. G.D. McGrath - AUS - Rating 786
4. W.P.U.J.C. Vaas - SL - Rating 762
5. N.W Bracken - AUS - Rating 744
6. M. Muralitharan - SL - Rating 737
7. M. Ntini - SA - Rating 730
8. D.L. Vettori - NZ - Rating 715
9. B. Lee - AUS - Rating 707
10. I.D.R Bradshaw - WI - Rating 674
11. Abdur Razzaq - BAN - Rating 665
12. A. Flintoff - ENG - Rating 651
13. Mashrafe bin Mortaza - BAN - Rating 644
14. Harbhajan Singh - IND - Rating 641
15. J.D.P Oram - NZ - Rating 636

ODI Allrounders

1. S.M. Pollock - SA - Rating 462
2. S.T. Jayasuriya - SL - Rating 405
3. A. Flintoff - ENG - Rating 393
4. C.H. Gayle - WIN - Rating 383
5. J.H. Kallis - SA - Rating 377
6. J.D.P Oram - NZ - Rating 328
7. P.D. Collingwood - ENG - Rating 313
8. S.B. Styris - NZ - Rating 309
9. Shoaib Malik - PAK - Rating 298
10. Shahid Afridi - PAK - Rating 294

Its funny how the test rankings are so very different from the ODI rankings, it does show who the best players are in the world if they are around the top 10 of the rankings in both forms of the game

TEST TEAM RANKINGS

1. Australia - 43 mat - 5807 points - Rating 135
2. England - 47 mat - 5344 points - Rating 114
3. Pakistan - 38 mat - 4092 points - Rating 108
4. India - 38 mat - 4056 points - Rating 107
5. Sri Laka - 36 mat - 3682 points - Rating 102
6. South Africa - 42 mat - 4274 points - Rating 102
7. New Zealand - 28 mat - 2602 points - Rating 93
8. West Indies - 33 mat - 2378 points - Rating 72
9. Zimbabwe - 15 mat - 415 points - Rating 28
10. Bangladesh - 22 mat - 48 points - Rating 2

Test Batsman

1. R.T. Ponting - AUS - Rating 936
2. Mohammad Yousuf - PAK - Rating 915
3. K.P. Pietersen - ENG - Rating 870
4. K.C. Sangakkara - SL - Rating 857
5. M.E.K. Hussey - AUS - Rating 842
6. M.L Hayden - AUS - Rating 828
7. J.H. Kallis - SA - Rating 820
8. R. Dravid - IND - Rating 816
9. B.C. Lara - WI - Rating 801
10. Younis Khan - PAK - Rating 789

Test Bowlers

1. M. Muralitharan - SL - Rating 913
2. M.Ntini - SA - Rating 856
3. A. Kumble - IND - Rating 731
4. S.M Pollock - SA - Rating 730
5. M.J. Hoggard - ENG - Rating 725
6. S.E Bond - NZ - Rating 722
7. S.R Clark - AUS - Rating 720
8. Mohammad Asif - PAK - Rating 710
9. A. Flintoff - ENG - Rating 708
10. Shoaib Akhtar - PAK - Rating 698

Test Allrounders

1. J.H. Kallis - SA - Rating 462
2. A. Flintoff - ENG - Rating 415
3. S.M. Pollock - SA - Rating 356
4. D.L. Vettori - NZ - Rating 328
5. I.K Pathan - IND - Rating 254
6. W.P.U.J.C Vaas - SL - Rating 252
7. C.H. Gayle - WI - Rating 230
8. S.T. Jayasuriya - SL - Rating 206
9. B. Lee - AUS - Rating 201
10. J.E.C. Franklin - NZ - Rating 200

At the end of the world cup what will the world ODI rankings look like, will Australia be able to hold out South Africa is the main thing and what sort of position would New Zealand be in if they are able to win the world cup or at least get to the final.

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Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

I don't trust the rankings personally, SA never deserved the top spot for the brief period they held it and some of the individual rankings are perplexing.

Yes the english fans love KP but he is not one of the world's top three batsmen in either form of the game. And what is with James Franklin being the 10th best all rounder in tests? he wouldn't even make my black caps test 11.

I don't know how Irfan Pathan is 5th in test all-rounders!Dhoni was No.2 in ODI batsmen before the World Cup.He went down 6 places in a month.

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Karthik Venkatesan

How come Pakistan are still No:5 and India No:6 after the two teams' lamentable display in the World Cup? I agree that most of the individual positions make no sense either.

I think Pakistan and India are still better teams than England and the West Indies, If either side had taken England's place in the NZ, Kenya, Canada pool they would have made the super 8s.

They just got caught out by so called minnows who played out of their skin for one game.

Basically, because they haven't played any further games, their rating hasn't gone down. It would be up to England and the West Indies to make up the points deficit (3 and 6 points respectively) to send Pakistan and India down the table.

Bloody daft isn't it.

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

So what is South Africa's excuse for doing the same as India and losing to Bangladesh?

Bangladesh pushed england to the wire as well.