The UCB has welcomed the announcement of the ICC's official One-Day International rankings which were presented in London today. The initial rankings, based on performances since the end of the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, place South Africa in second position behind Australia and ahead of Sri Lanka.

According to the system, every One-Day International counts for points and all matches are treated equally, regardless of the venue in which they are played. However, wins against higher-ranked teams are weighted, as are more recent performances, with older performances dropped every 12 months.

"This looks like a good system. It complements the Test championship and places all One-Day International matches in a context," said UCB CEO Gerald Majola today. "South Africa can be proud of being second on the rankings as this shows the strength of South African cricket. We have 10 Standard Bank One-Day Internationals at home against Sri Lanka and Pakistan this season as well as the ICC Cricket World Cup. We will use every match to try and build on our position and to get to the top as both World Cup champions and top-ranked team," Majola added.

National captain Shaun Pollock said: "We're number two in the world and there's not much wrong with that, although of course we will always work hard to be number one. The positions on the table mean that our Standard Bank One-Day International series coming up against Sri Lanka carries some big points and great excitement. I also think it is a good idea that every match counts for points - it makes every match mean something, even when the series is won."

The Rankings, as at launch on 31st October 2002, are as follows.

Ranking	Team	Matches	Points	Rating
1	Australia	27	3465	128
2	South Africa	38	4571	120
3	Sri Lanka	35	4092	117
4	Pakistan	32	3675	115
5	India	31	3301	106
6	England	21	2014	96
7	West Indies	22	2074	94
8	New Zealand	31	2832	91
9	Zimbabwe	28	1886	67
10	Kenya	12	263	22
11	Bangladesh	13	145	11

The country with the highest rating is officially regarded as the best ODI team in world cricket, and will hold a specially commissioned ICC ODI Trophy while it tops the table. If two or more teams have equal ratings, the team having played a greater number of matches would be ranked higher.

It is interesting to compare each country's current rating with the proportion of ODIs it has won over the period covered by the Rankings.

Ranking	Team	Rating	% Won
1	Australia	128	72.0%
2	South Africa	120	67.2%
3	Sri Lanka	117	64.1%
4	Pakistan	115	63.6%
5	India	106	60.7%
6	England	96	42.1%
7	West Indies	94	44.2%
8	New Zealand	91	34.4%
9	Zimbabwe	67	26.3%
10	Kenya	22	6.3%
11	Bangladesh	11	0.0%

© United Cricket Board of South Africa