Sammy, Bravo – the team’s leading allrounders, and Roach – the fastest bowler in the line-up shared 23 wickets between them in the Digicel ODI Series against Zimbabwe which the West Indies won 4-1 and have been rewarded with big jumps in the latest rankings which were released on Monday at the end of New Zealand vs Australia and West Indies vs Zimbabwe ODI series which concluded on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
 
Sammy, who took eight wickets in the series, has vaulted 37 places to share 20th spot with Bangladesh’s Abdur Razzak, Bravo has jumped 20 places to occupy 24th spot after picking up seven wickets while Roach has rocketed 23 places to sit in 80th position after snapping up eight wickets in the series.
 
“It feels really good to be moving up the rankings and to break into the Top 20 is extra-special. It means that the hard work is paying off and my aim is to continue working hard so I can make more moves up the rankings in the coming months. I will also be looking to make a greater contribution with the bat as well and try to make more strides in my overall game. I always put the team first and once my performances help the team to do better I am happy,” Sammy said.
 
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, the West Indies captain Chris Gayle has continued his upward movement and has leapfrogged India great Sachin Tendulkar into fourth position. Gayle, who was in seventh position at the start of the month, was in sublime form in the series in which he scored 273 runs, including three half-centuries.
 
Meanwhile, Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, who won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy after being named as the 2009 ICC Cricketer of the Year at the LG ICC Awards in Johannesburg, has also returned to the top 10 after a stellar performance against New Zealand. He took 12 wickets in the series against New Zealand which has helped him lift four places to 10th position. Johnson now becomes Australia’s highest-ranked bowler after Doug Bollinger slipped two places to 14th spot after managing just four wickets in five ODIs.
 
New Zealand’s Tim Southee is also on the move and after his six wickets in the series, including 4-36 in the final match of the series in Wellington, he has climbed 15 places to a career-best 38th position. Southee’s team-mate Shane Bond, who bagged nine wickets against Australia, has swapped places with fellow New Zealander Kyle Mills who missed the series with shoulder and knee injuries. A player misses one per cent of his ratings for every match he misses, and as such, fifth-placed Bond has taken a 17-point lead over Mills and is just seven points behind fourth-placed Nuwan Kulasekara of Sri Lanka.
 
New Zealand’s middle-order batsman Ross Taylor has also returned to the top 20 after improving his ranking by four places. He is now in 18th position after scoring 177 runs in the series. Blackcap Scott Styris, who was the pick of the batsmen in the series with 199 runs, has climbed three places to 37th position while second-ranked Michael Hussey has narrowed the gap with India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to just eight points after finishing as the second most successful batsman with 198 runs.
 
There is no change in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders with Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan still leading the field. Meanwhile, the positions in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship at the annual cut-off date of 1 April have also been confirmed with Australia finishing number-one and India claiming second place, 11 ratings points behind.