(ICC) ICC World Twenty20 2012 champion West Indies will begin a two-match series against New Zealand from tomorrow, with an opportunity to go to second place in the Reliance ICC T20I Team Rankings Table.
West Indies is currently ranked fifth with 120 ratings points, while eighth-ranked New Zealand is on 102 ratings points.
West Indies needs to win both the matches in the series to jump three places to second. However, if New Zealand was to win either one or both the matches in the series, West Indies would then remain in fifth place.
If West Indies wins both the matches, then it will gain three ratings points to move on par with India and South Africa on 123 ratings points. However, when ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, West Indies will be ranked above India and South Africa, but will be six ratings points behind number-one ranked Sri Lanka.
New Zealand, on the other hand will continue to be in eighth place if West Indies win both the matches, but will lose three ratings points to finish on 99. But New Zealand would move up a place to seventh if it wins one or both the matches in the series
All eyes on Brendon McCullum and Narine
Meanwhile, Brendon McCullum and Sunil Narine will start the series as the highest ranked batsman and bowler on either side.
While McCullum is ranked second in the batting rankings while Narine is the number-one ranked bowler.
Apart from McCullum, Martin Guptill in seventh place is the second New Zealand batsman within the top 10, while in the absence of ninth-ranked Chris Gayle, West Indies has no batsman in the top 20.
Outside the top 20, the batsmen likely to be in action are Dwayne Bravo (26th), Johnson Charles (41st), Ross Taylor (42nd) and Lendl Simmons (47th).
Meanwhile, apart from Narine there is no other bowler from either side in the top 10. The only other bowler in the top 20 is Nathan McCullum in 14th position.
Outside the top 20, the bowlers likely to feature in the series are Samuel Badree (22nd), Tim Southee (31st), Ravi Rampaul (48th) and Dwayne Bravo (52nd).
