Nepal, Netherlands, UAE and Scotland inducted to ICC ODI rankings list

It has been a purposeful year for the sport of cricket up until now, especially for minnows like Ireland and Afghanistan. Ireland played their historic first Test match against Pakistan a week ago while Afghanistan is scheduled to play India in their debut Test match this week in Bangalore.

Now, the ICC has handed a boost to the lesser known cricketing nations like Netherlands, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, and Scotland as the quartet have been added to the ICC’s existing ODI ranking list of 12 nations. Active from today, the existing 12-team ICC ODI rankings table will be expanded to accommodate the above-mentioned countries to take the total number of countries to 16.

Netherlands confirmed their ODI status last year after they emerged as winners in the  ICC World Cricket League Championship. On the other hand, Scotland, Nepal, and UAE were given their official ODI status after they finished as the top three Associates nations in the recently-concluded ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018.

As far as points and the position on the rankings list were concerned, matches played between May 1, 2015 and April 30, 2017 have been given 50 percent preference and the matches played after May 1, 2017 have been given a 100 percent preference. As a result, Scotland (28 points) sit at the 13th position and UAE (18 points) occupy the 14th position.

The other two debutants on the list, Nepal, and, Netherlands will qualify when they play at least four ODIs, and hence won’t be visible on the table as of now. But ICC officials also maintained that there will be no change in positions of the previous 12 nations on the list.