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Starc, Maxwell lead charge in ICC rankings

The stars of Australia's World Cup campaign are setting new personal bests on the ODI player rankings charts

Mitchell Starc's impressive Cricket World Cup showing has seen him leap up in the official player rankings to be the world's third best one-day bowler.

Starc and Glenn Maxwell have both achieved career high rankings on the ICC's data and will undoubtedly be key performers in Australia's chase to win a first World Cup on home soil.

Starc now sits on 713 ranking points – a personal best – and is just four points behind South Africa pace spearhead Dale Steyn.

Starc picks up four against Scotland

Pakistan's spinner Saeed Ajmal still tops the ODI rankings with 722 points despite having not played an ODI since late August. He has since heavily remodelled his bowling action after the ICC's biomechanical testing found he was throwing. Despite being cleared to return to international cricket, he was not selected for Pakistan's World Cup campaign.

Starc has been the standout for Australia during the World Cup, taking a tournament-best 16 wickets at 8.5 with an economy rate of 3.67. His figures are all the more impressive when factoring in the Brisbane washout against Bangladesh – his figures have come from five innings while the other leading bowlers have played six matches.

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Steyn has taken six wickets at 28 and an economy rate of 4.75 for the Proteas.

New Zealand swing bowler Trent Boult and India quick Mohammed Shami have each captured 15 scalps in their six matches – as did Scotland's Josh Davey, although he won't be able to add to his total after their elimination at the end of the pool stges.

Boult's remarkable World Cup form – his 5-27 ripped the heart out of Australia's middle order in their Auckland thriller – has helped him to a career-high ranking of 15th with 611 points.        

Maxwell's maiden one-day international century against Sri Lanka lifted him to 714 rankings points and a position as the ninth best one-day batsman in the world and the top-ranked Australian.

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He sits six points ahead of the idle George Bailey, who has been unable to force his way back into the squad following the return of Michael Clarke in a stark illustration of the co-host's depth.

Bailey is one of just five players in the top 100 ODI batsmen who are not playing regularly in this World Cup, and the highest ranked after injured Pakistani Mohammed Hafeez (ranked 33). Fellow Australians Shaun Marsh (ranked 80) and Matthew Wade (ranked 98) are also in that group, along with New Zealander Jesse Ryder.

AB de Villiers (899 points) and Kumar Sangakkara (861) are the top two-ranked ODI batsmen, and will meet in the first World Cup quarter-final at the SCG on Wednesday. Their current ranking points tally are personal bests for both men.

India have three batsmen ranked in the top 10 (Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and MS Dhoni), South Africa and Sri Lanka have two each and Kane Williamson is the sole Black Caps representative.

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Aaron Finch is ranked 12th but you have to go down to 25th to find the third playing Australian name – David Warner.

Warner is just ahead of Shane Watson (26), James Faulkner (29), Steve Smith (31) and Michael Clarke (32).

Smith's current tally of 611 ranking points is another personal best.

ICC's Top 10 ODI bowlers

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ICC's Top 10 ODI batsmen

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Note: Above image (and Dilshan spelling) is from the ICC's ODI ranking page