Smith displaces the 'Special One' as No. 1 ODI batsman

[Ponting_14]

Cricinfo staff

March 15, 2008

After the satisfaction of seeing his team on top of the ODI rankings, Graeme Smith had a personal milestone to celebrate as well, as he went past Sachin Tendulkar to take the No. 1 spot in the ICC's ODI rankings for batsmen.

Smith began the three-match series against Bangladesh in third place, 24 points behind Tendulkar, but pushed him to second spot after scoring 199 and being dismissed just once in the three ODIs. In fact, Smith has been in glorious form in one-day internationals over the last seven months, scoring nine half-centuries and a hundred in his last 19 innings, for an average of 52.35.

Tendulkar's reign at the top thus lasted less than two weeks - he claimed the spot after leading India to victory in the CB Series - but Smith is likely to keep that spot for at least three months since both India and Australia aren't scheduled to play ODIs before June.

AB de Villiers was the other South African batsman who made significant progress, going up six places to a career-best No. 9 after being the second-highest run-getter in the series with 109 runs.

Among the bowlers, Andre Nel, who has been left out of the Test squad for the series against India, made the biggest improvement, going up ten places to No. 6 after claiming seven wickets in the series.

Bangladesh, though, had little to celebrate. Abdur Razzak moved up two spots to No. 16 in the bowlers' list, while Shakib Al Hasan broke into the top 50 for batting, but Mohammad Ashraful, their captain, dropped eight places to 59.

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Discussion time starts now people...

 

[Sureshot]

http://stats.cricinfo.com/statsguru...=2;template=results;type=batting;view=innings

He's in good form, last 8 ODIs weren't against any kind of decent opposition though. And he hasn't played Australia for a while. To put it simply, I think there are better ODI batsman out there.

 

[SaiSrini]

Smith?

Let him enjoy this period. will some come down when Ponting and Sachin battle it out for that spot. Sad that Sachin doesnt have that many ODI's this year as india play lot of tests this year.

 

[Cricketman]

I think Sachin will show everyone that he's the best in both forms of the game in the upcoming series'.

 

[ivanvdm15]

Came kindof as a suprize but he has been in good form.

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

What to discus :laugh he plays against Bangla and all . Will love to see him in action during tour to India

 

[surendar]

What to discus :laugh he plays against Bangla and all . Will love to see him in action during tour to India

Bangla is the team which gave a nice reply to Aussie skipper, when he said, teams like those are not eligible for WCups. Bangladesh is the team which won SA in the WCup. Bangladesh is the team which has shown a quick progress. But unfortunately now, they have no proper guidance is what I feel.

Don't ever ever underestimate any teams.. even Scotland.. whatever the team may be.. They are still playing International cricket and we need to respect that in first place. Giving respect and treating the opponents in well mannered way is always better than talking cheaply and underestimating them! : Hitting a century against Bangladesh or Hitting a century against Aussies or Hitting a century against Kiwis.. It all counts.

 

[tassietiger]

Bangla is the team which gave a nice reply to Aussie skipper, when he said, teams like those are not eligible for WCups. Bangladesh is the team which won SA in the WCup. Bangladesh is the team which has shown a quick progress. But unfortunately now, they have no proper guidance is what I feel.

Don't ever ever underestimate any teams.. even Scotland.. whatever the team may be.. They are still playing International cricket and we need to respect that in first place. Giving respect and treating the opponents in well mannered way is always better than talking cheaply and underestimating them! : Hitting a century against Bangladesh or Hitting a century against Aussies or Hitting a century against Kiwis.. It all counts.

Some not as much as others. Although any team can surprise anyone, there are certain teams which win more often than others (e.g. Australia). There are reasons for this. A player who has made most of his runs against teams which rarely win has probably made his runs against bowlers who don't bowl as well as those from the winning teams. So they shouldn't get as much respect.

And don't pretend that if, hypothetically, you got offered a century against Bangers, Kiwis or Australia you wouldn't choose Australia.

 

[jordox]

:rtfl :rtfl

He so doesn't deserve that.. HAHAHHAA

 

[surendar]

So they shouldn't get as much respect.

haha.. I don't prefer this attitude, " Conditional respect ". You may include a algorithm for this,

If(/*condition*/)
{
Execute ( " give respect " );
}
else
{
Execute ( " Criticize cheaply " );
}



Anyways, it differs from person to person when comes to basic manners. I follow, " Even treat your enemies with great respect and care, that they feel ashamed of themselves to be enemy of such a person "!

Anyways, lets get back on this discussion. As for as ODIs concerned, I would definitely rate Kiwis,Lankans and SA ahead of India. India still to have so called a consistent pace bowler.

 

[King Pietersen]

Ha. This proves what a joke the ranking system really is. Tendulkar has been the best ODi batsman in the world in the past year and should be at the top of the rankings alongside Sangakkara, Hayden, Gilchrist, Bell, Ponting, and Dhoni. I'll be honest, KP shouldn't be in the Top 10 at the moment, he's not had a score of real note in one day cricket since the WC, and with series averages of 43, 28 and 33 respectively he shouldn't be up there. Ian Bell's been a much better One Day player in the past year. Smith top of the rankings is a joke though.

 

[SciD]

Pakistan is playing Bangladesh. Maybe some Pakistani will be Top Player in few weeks time.

 

[0601731]

Pakistan is playing Bangladesh. Maybe some Pakistani will be Top Player in few weeks time.

maybe afridi will become no.1

 

[Leggie]

maybe afridi will become no.1

Afridi is not even in the top ten, he cannot become No.1 in a matter of matches.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Afridi No chance although he can come in top 10 Bolwers..