Aussies claim 5 of top 10 places, Dhoni lone Indian at fifth

Dubai, Jan 11 (UNI) Mahendra Singh Dhoni clings on to his fifth place, while the awesome Aussies underlined their hegemony claiming five of the top 11 batting slots in the latest LG ICC Player Rankings for ODIs.

Meanwhile, India can move past Sri Lanka into fifth place in the LG ICC ODI Championship if it beats the West Indies 3-0 or 4-0 in their upcoming series.

Team India stars, who suffered a whitewash in the ODI series in South Africam cut a sorry figure in the chart with none of them making it to either the bowlers' top 10 or the list of five leading all-rounders.

Meanwhile, with five batsmen in the top 11 places of the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, Australia is the clear favourite to dominate the tri-series with England and New Zealand that starts on Friday in Melbourne.

Michael Hussey (1st), Adam Gilchrist (4th), Andrew Symonds (6th), Ricky Ponting (8th) and Michael Clarke (11th) are all in fine form at present and with the ICC Cricket World Cup just two months away, they will be keen to make sure that continues as they begin the countdown to the big one in the West Indies.

In contrast, England has just one player, Kevin Pietersen, in the top 20 and New Zealand can only manage one, captain Stephen Fleming, in the top 25 -- and only if retired Damien Martyn is taken out.

And with England ranked eighth in the LG ICC ODI Championship it is perhaps no surprise that it does not have a single bowler in the top 20 of the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers.

Now that Steve Harmison has retired from one-day international cricket, Andrew Flintoff is its highest ranked bowler, in 25th place.

On the bowling front, things are a little more encouraging for New Zealand. Daniel Vettori has just moved into the top five of the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers and has just reached his highest ever rating in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders.

The 27-year-old left-arm spinner has now been a constant fixture in the top 10 of the ODI bowling list for two years.

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