Pakistan dropped down to the ninth position in the ODI Team rankings released by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday after an annual update saw results from 2012-13 scrapped, while results from 2014-15 been reduced to a weighting of 50 per cent.

Since 2014, Pakistan have managed to win just three out of the ten ODI series they played, with victories coming against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka last year while they were eliminated from the 2015 World Cup in after losing to Australia in the quarter-final.

Pakistan’s famous 3-0 ODI debacle against Bangladesh also took place in this duration after Azhar Ali replaced veteran Misbah-ul-Haq as the ODI captain following the World Cup exit.

World Cup 2015 finalists Australia and New Zealand have retained the top two positions.

Australia, who won their fifth World Cup title in Melbourne last year, are now sitting on 124 points after dropping two points to lead New Zealand by 11 points.

South Africa moved into the third position, having swapped places with India while West Indies replaced Pakistan as the eighth placed team.

Other sides to gain following the annual update include sixth-ranked England (103, up two), seventh-ranked Bangladesh (98, up one), eighth-ranked West Indies (88, up two), 10th-ranked Afghanistan (51, up four) and 11th-ranked Zimbabwe (47, up two).

A significant date on the ICC events calendar is 30 September 2017, which is the rankings cut-off date for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

The host, England, and the seven next highest-ranked sides on the ICC ODI Team Rankings on 30 September 2017 will qualify directly for cricket’s biggest event, while the bottom four ODI ranked sides will join the top sides from the ICC World Cricket League in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 to fight for the two remaining positions.

Although there will be another ODI team rankings annual update prior to this cut-off date, it is significant that from now on the results of all ODIs that will affect qualification will be weighted at 100 per cent whereas matches played between May 2014 and April 2016 will by then be weighted at only 50 per cent.

All the teams bunched together in the middle of the table will have to win as many matches as possible in the forthcoming season, knowing it will help ensure direct qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, which will be staged from 30 May to 15 July in the United Kingdom. — ICC