Cricket fandoms are warring, fans are debating and discussing, and social media is the major outlet for all this. Most of this interaction is about the best ever players and their rankings as the fans will be more than happy to share their opinions depending on the positions.
Cricket is a team sport, and the players or the teams are rated over time using a metric called the ICC rankings. The ICC publishes and refreshes the player rankings across all formats weekly, whenever there is an international match.
So how does ICC calculate the rankings of players and teams, and on what factors do they base their rankings?
The ICC Player and Team Rankings Explained
The MRF Tyres ICC rankings are the ones where international cricket teams and players are ranked. The ICC ranks the teams and players based on the points they acquire through a series of calculations and moving averages.
In this way, the players are rated on a scale of 0-1000 points and if a player is showing an improvement in his/her performance compared to the past, his/her rating will be increased, and on the contrary, if the player’s performance has deteriorated, the rating points will start to decrease.
A player’s contribution to a match is rated by an algorithm that takes into account the conditions of the match. The player ranking methods vary by format, but the calculations are totally algorithm-based without any human intervention.
To simplify individual rankings in a low-scoring contest, if a batsman’s percentage of score is more, then his rating points will go up, and the points will decline if the batsman scores low in a high-scoring match.
What Method Is Used to Determine ICC Team Rankings?
The method involves taking the points scored and dividing them by the total of matches/series, with the result rounded off to the nearest whole number. It is similar to the batting average of a batsman, but in this case, points are used instead of total runs scored, and a match/series total instead of the number of times a batsman got out.
The ICC rankings are valid for both Men’s and Women’s cricket. In men’s cricket, all three formats of the game—Tests, ODIs, and T20Is—are taken into account, while for women’s cricket, only WODI and WT20I are included, as female Test cricket is only played occasionally.
The rating scale was created by David Kendix to classify men’s teams playing in all three formats—Test, One Day Internationals, and T20 Internationals—while also categorizing Women’s T20 International (WT20I) and One Day International (WODI) teams.
Men’s ICC Rankings
Test: Presently, there are a total of 12 teams competing in Test matches around the world, and according to the most recent ICC men’s rankings, only 10 teams hold ratings, while Afghanistan and Ireland, who also participate in Test matches, are not considered. This is so because they have not completed the minimum number of matches to meet the requirements, and when they do begin to play regular Test matches the teams will then be included in the rankings.
ODI: The latest ICC announcement indicates that there are 20 teams that are currently participating in this ranking system. The condition is that the teams should have an ODI status and the matches that they play should also be with ODI status. For example, if a member side with ODI status plays against a team that does not have ODI status, the match will not be considered for the rankings.
T20I: At the present time, the ICC has ranked 85 out of the 105 countries with T20I status in its T20 rankings. The other teams may have played not enough matches in the respective time frame for the inclusion in the rating system.
Women’s ICC Rankings
WTest: As stated before, Women’s Test cricket is played very little, and there are still not enough games to establish a rating system.
WODI: The latest ICC ranking for women’s cricket places 13 teams in the rating system and at the same time women’s cricket that is growing very fast, we will surely have more teams in this format of the game.
WT20I:
Just like men’s cricket, the ICC has granted T20I status to all women’s cricket member countries, currently 60 nations are included in the ICC Women’s T20I cricket rankings.
While cricket has always been a hot topic for discussion on different platforms, the ICC rankings are like a spark to the already blazing fire. To sum up, the rating system is still the most reliable way to measure the player’s position among his/her peers and also how he/she fits in with the previous generation.
When or How Often Does the ICC Release the Rankings?
Generally, the ICC rankings are updated very frequently and published on the official website. Men’s cricket sees the apex authority of the sport issuing the rankings every Wednesday, but that only happens if a match has taken place in the week. The same process is adopted for women’s cricket as well.
As far as team rankings are concerned, the ICC does not wait for the next update to change the ratings in case of a bilateral series or multi-national tournament getting completed.
Why do Player’s Rankings and Ratings
How Does the ICC Calculate That?
To reiterate, player rankings and ratings are determined with the help of programmed algorithms. Of course, the recent performance of a player is almost always the deciding factor in him/her getting rating points or losing them, thus taking his/her ranking into account.
If a particular player has a higher average when compared to his/her career average during a series then the rating points will certainly increase. Otherwise, there will be a cut. In a similar manner, if a player does not take part in matches, then that leads to a direct lowering of his/her rating points. For example, a bowler’s rating is directly proportional to the average; the lower the average, the better the rating.
