AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla will go to the World Cup as the top two batsmen in ODI cricket, following the release of the latest rankings by the ICC on Monday.
While De Villiers retains his position at the top, Amla has moved up one place into second following the series against the West Indies where he was the top run-scorer.
Quinton de Kock is the only other South African in the top 10, having dropped two places to number nine after missing the Windies series with an ankle injury.
Both De Villiers and Amla will go into the tournament with great form after they enjoyed a particularly successful series against the West Indies.
Meanwhile, Dale Steyn retained his third spot in the ODI bowling rankings, with Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal and West Indian Surine Narine, both spinners, ranking number one and two respectively.
Neither of them will, however, represent their countries at the World Cup. Both players pulled out of the tournament after failing to sufficiently remodel their bowling actions.
Steyn is joined in the top 10 by fellow South African fast bowler Morne Morkel, who slips down one place to number 10. He is followed by spinner Imran Tahir who jumps eight places to slot in at number 11.
The ICC ODI team rankings also revealed that Australia will be hosting the tournament as the number one ranked team in the world on 120 points. They co-host the World Cup with New Zealand.
The Proteas rank at number three with 113, six points behind the Aussies and only one behind India who are second.
ODI TEAM RANKINGS
| Country | Rating | |
| 1 | Australia | 120 |
| 2 | India | 114 |
| 3 | South Africa | 113 |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 109 |
| 5 | England | 104 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 101 |
| 7 | Pakistan | 96 |
| 8 | West Indies | 94 |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 75 |
| 10 | Zimbabwe | 53 |
ODI BATSMEN
| (change +/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Aver | |
| 1 | (-) | AB de Villiers | SA | 891 | 52.16 |
| 2 | (+1) | Hashim Amla | SA | 867 | 56.41 |
| 3 | (-1) | Virat Kohli | India | 831 | 51.50 |
| 4 | (-) | Kumar Sangakkara | SL | 823 | 40.99 |
| 5 | (-) | T Dilshan | SL | 785 | 39.00 |
| 6 | (+4) | Kane Williamson | NZ | 757 | 45.00 |
| 7 | (-1) | Shikhar Dhawan | India | 725 | 42.75 |
| 8 | (+1) | MS Dhoni | India | 721 | 52.29 |
| 9 | (-2) | Quinton de Kock | SA | 720 | 42.45 |
| 10 | (-2) | George Bailey | Aus | 717 | 41.74 |
| 20 | (-1) | Faf du Plessis | SA | 630 | 33.84 |
| 37 | (+8) | David Miller | SA | 591 | 34.55 |
| 93 | (+23) | Rilee Rossouw | SA | 423 | 29.71 |
ODI BOWLERS
| (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Aver | Econ | |
| 1 | (-) | Saeed Ajmal | Pak | 748 | 22.18 | 4.13 |
| 2 | (-) | Sunil Narine | WI | 734 | 26.49 | 4.10 |
| 3 | (-) | Dale Steyn | SA | 724 | 25.14 | 4.80 |
| 4 | (+2) | James Anderson | Eng | 716 | 28.84 | 4.90 |
| 5 | (-) | Mitchell Johnson | Aus | 683 | 25.50 | 4.82 |
| 6 | (-2) | Shakib Al Hassan | Bang | 680 | 27.92 | 4.26 |
| 7 | (+5) | Mitchell Starc | Aus | 636 | 21.27 | 5.00 |
| 8 | (+3) | Mohammad Hafeez | Pak | 631 | 35.01 | 4.06 |
| 9 | (+4) | Rangana Herath | SL | 629 | 31.07 | 4.40 |
| 10 | (-1) | Morne Morkel | SA | 628 | 24.69 | 4.95 |
| 11 | (+8) | Imran Tahir | SA | 625 | 20.23 | 4.39 |
| 34 | (+9) | Vernon Philander | SA | 551 | 22.25 | 4.61 |
| 35 | (+11) | Wayne Parnell | SA | 550 | 29.25 | 5.47 |
| 71 | (+11) | Aaron Phangiso | SA | 433 | 38.20 | 4.55 |
| 74 | (+3) | JP Duminy | SA | 432 | 40.78 | 5.05 |
