
Oram takes over as top ODI all-rounder
Jacob Oram climbed the top of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders after a brilliant outing in Bangladesh.
The big 30-year-old from Palmerston North scored 135 runs in the three matches at an average of 67.50 and took four wickets at an equally impressive average of 12.50 and the niggardly economy-rate of just 2.38.
In the process he has gained two places in the latest rankings, overtaking Andrew Flintoff of England and Pakistan's Shoaib Malik to register the highest rating of his career to date.
Oram has also managed to gain no fewer than eight places in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers and is back into the top 10 after showing his fellow Black Caps how to do it in Chittagong and Dhaka.
And to cap off an excellent series for him, he also gained eight places in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, moving up to 33rd position level with Sri Lanka's Chamara Silva and just behind team-mate Jamie How, who himself has gained six places in the latest batting rankings.
Ross Taylor has gained three places to 29th position following his match-winning century in the third ODI and he is currently enjoying the highest rating of his career so far.
It was also a good series for Kyle Mills who has moved into the top five in the bowling rankings for the first time after taking five wickets at 10.83 in the series. Mills has eased past Flintoff and Stuart Broad of England, and Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralidaran of Sri Lanka and is also putting pressure on those players above him who will feel him breathing down their necks.
With Daniel Vettori slipping one place after this series, Australia's Nathan Bracken has gone top of the ODI bowling rankings for the first time in his career. Slow left-armer Vettori had a disappointing series by his standards, taking just one wicket in three matches at an average of 112 although his economy-rate of 4.00 was still competitive.
Bangladesh enjoyed several positive moments during the series and its victory in the first match in Dhaka helped moved Saqibul Hasan up 14 places to 25th in the bowling rankings, taking over as his country's highest-ranked ODI bowler. But Saqibul will be looking over his shoulder at Mushrafe Mortaza (up 11 places to 31st spot) and Syed Rasel (up 15 places to 35th), who also did well in the series.
Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful rose 12 places to 47th position in the batting rankings but things were not so positive for team-mate Tamim Iqbal, who dropped five places to 40th after a relatively poor series for the 19-year-old from Chittagong. The batting list is still headed by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is not far ahead of Michael Hussey of Australia and South Africa's Graeme Smith.
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