The Hindu : ICC clarifies on ranking system

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 25, 2003

Sport

Sport - Cricket

ICC clarifies on ranking system

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 24. In an obvious response to India skipper Sourav Ganguly doubting the rating system for ODIs, the International Cricket Council on Thursday came out with a detailed clarification justifying the system.

India had been placed at the eighth slot in the ODIs ratings released recently and fifth in the Test ratings.

The official ODI rating system provides an objective, fair and fact-based analysis of the performances of all teams, the ICC said.

The ICC Chief Executive, Malcolm Speed, said that the official ratings assessed a team's performance over a period of two years and success in a single tournament would not wipe out poor performances outside that event.

"The ICC ODI ratings assess the performances of a team over two years, not over two months. For example, India's unchanged rating reflects the fact that while it enjoyed some success in key tournaments, it has also performed quite poorly at other times against teams that were ranked below it in the table. The updated ratings table published last week indicates that there is little to separate the middle-ranking teams in world cricket", said Mr. Speed added.

The support for the official ODI ratings system, the release stated, came after several commentators seemed unable to reconcile the inability of India to improve its ODI rating when the table was recently updated, particularly as the team reached the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 in South Africa.

The ICC said that the ratings highlight that while India enjoyed high profile success in the ICC Cricket World Cup, its performances in other matches had been indifferent.

According to the ICC, in particular, the team's multiple losses against sides that were at the time ranked below it, including series losses to West Indies and New Zealand, damaged the rating of the Indian side.

The developer of the official ratings system, David Kendix, stressed this point.

"India's success at the ICC Cricket World Cup does not alter history. Given its inconsistent performances against teams that were rated below it in the table, it should be of no surprise that India has been unable to improve its rating."

Mr. Kendix added "unfortunately for India, since its recent results are broadly similar to its older results, its rating has not improved and so it has been narrowly overtaken in the overall standings".

Mr. Kendix also highlighted that while overall winning percentages (wins as a proportion of matches played) was an easy statistic to quote, it was a crude way to assess a team's performance. "It assumes that all teams are of equal standard and that a win over a team such as Bangladesh is worth the same as a win over Australia. The reality is that, in assessing a team's performance, it is critical to consider the strength of the opposition it has faced."

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