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I see Ireland and Afghanistan now ranked above West Indies... slowly the better Associates' teams are getting noticed.

The big problem for the west indies they are lossing there gifted junior athletes to American sports ie Basketball or Athletics this is wht there has been such a derth of fast bowlers in recent years.

Teams do not tend to play many Twenty20 games so this ranking system is probably not really 100% fair to the West Indies, but it's fantastic that these associate nations are proving that they can really compete with the big boys!

I notice that Bangladesh are not on the list, I'm guessing that on merit they would probably slip between Pakistan and Afghanistan?

William Metcalfe wrote:The big problem for the west indies they are lossing there gifted junior athletes to American sports ie Basketball or Athletics this is wht there has been such a derth of fast bowlers in recent years.

There's far more money in both of the above, so that's probably why. WICB have been struggling financially ever since the poorly attended World Cup there.

Not sure athletics is an American sport though!

The Latin American Caribbean islands focus on baseball, but the English speaking islands still focus on cricket ahead of baseball. There's not much overlap. However, there's so much money in baseball relative to cricket though that I suspect the whole of the whole Caribbean may turn to baseball quite soon.

Andrew Bak wrote:I notice that Bangladesh are not on the list, I'm guessing that on merit they would probably slip between Pakistan and Afghanistan?

Official ICC T20 Rankings List says that Bangladesh are currently rated 82, but based on only 3 matches. If they were to be placed on the list they would be just a few points below the West Indies in 11th place. The West Indies have three T20 matches coming up (two against Oz, one against Blighty), they might go ahead of Afghanistan or Ireland. Mind you, if Ireland beats Namibia in the World Cup T20 Qualifier semifinal tomorrow, then they will meet Afghanistan later the same day. Who knows what that could do to their relative rankings!

Afghanistan has already qualified for the T20 World Cup having already beaten Namibia in the first semi-final. Ireland has had to come through a series of repechage matches, having only qualified second from its group (albeit with a monster NRR).

Big win for Irish cricket this morning!

But I think the only thing the T20 Rankings List shows is that the T20 Rankings List is nonsense...

Peter Roberson wrote:But I think the only thing the T20 Rankings List shows is that the T20 Rankings List is nonsense...

I suspect you are right! Although Ireland and Afghanistan have decent enough cricket teams, the West Indies has moved on from its nadir and is starting to compete again. Look at how it is mugging Australia at the moment...

Of course with the short 20 over formula, the odds on upsets shortens, so it isn't particularly surprising that the Associates are ranked closer to the Test nations. Remember the Revenge of the Cheeseheads, the Dutch giving England a hiding in 2009?

And that qualifies Ireland for the T20 World Cup later this year. Feel sorry for Namibia, though, whose players go home empty handed. I can't understand why there has only been room made for two of the Associates in the T20WC, with the short format and the possibility of playing more than one game per team per day, there is no timetabling reason for such a decision. So no Netherlands, no Scotland, no Canada, each of whom have made some sort of impact in previous tournaments...

Ireland beat Afghanistan by 5 wickets, with 7 balls remaining, to win the WT20Q, which, fwiw, sees Ireland climb a bit further ahead of the West Indies on the T20 rankings, whilst Afghanistan drops below the Windies.

...
7. Pakistan P29 107
8. Ireland P15 95
9. West Indies P16 89
10. Afghanistan P11 83
11. Netherlands P8 64
...

Paul Stirling hit a half century off 17 balls, the second fastest in T20I history, ending out on 79 off 38 balls.

So Ireland joins Australia and the West Indies in Group A, whilst Afghanistan joins England and India in Group B in the T20WC in Sri Lanka in September. I imagine the West Indies might have something to say then about rankings!

current T20I ranking list

Ireland level on points with Australia ...

and Australia are one match into a 3 game series with Pakistan. If Pakistan win 3-0, or 2-0 and a tie, then Australia will be below Ireland. However, Australia are probably intending to play a lot better than in game one of the series...

It is only blitz cricket after all!

Australia lost to Pakistan so will be ranked 10th (below Ireland) for the coming World Cup 'blitz' cricket.

Australia won the third and final T20 game with Pakistan so have rocketed above Ireland again, and may soon catch Bangladesh.

Kevin Thurlow wrote:Australia won the third and final T20 game with Pakistan so have rocketed above Ireland again, and may soon catch Bangladesh.

LOL

John McKenna wrote:Australia lost to Pakistan so will be ranked 10th (below Ireland) for the coming World Cup 'blitz' cricket.

John, wouldn't swear to it, but I thought the rankings to be used were from the point at which Ireland and Afghanistan qualified?

Thanks to Kevin and Paul for pointing out the actuality - I should have used quotes in my post about the rankings as I took it, as read, from a source (not the Daily Fail) on the internet. So, did Australia end up as ranked 9th and Ireland 10th for the purposes of the coming World Cup then?