ICC Player Rankings: What is rating point and how is it calculated?

Interestingly, it was the time almost 38 years ago in 1987 when the International Cricket Council (ICC) accepted the suggestion of former England cricketer Ted Dexter and the rankings in Test cricket came into existence. These rankings were introduced with the motive of rating the players in a better and mathematically measured manner instead of a comparison of their career averages.

Speaking of the career averages, these are based on a cricketer’s performances and cumulative averages in his/her entire career. The rankings were introduced to provide a perfect assessment of a cricketer’s ratings, taking match conditions, opposition, and a few important consideration factors to calculate a rating point for each player.

Furthermore, 11 years after the introduction of Test rankings, ICC came up with an idea of rankings for ODI cricket as well in 1998. It was announced to bifurcate the separate rankings in Test and limited-overs cricket.

What rating point and how it’s calculated in rankings?

The performance of a cricketer in a match is calculated in the rating points on a scale of 1000, which transliterates into the fact that the maximum rating point stands at 1000. So, the players having a rating point of 900 or more are considered outstanding achievers with some exceptional credentials in their respective disciplines, be it bowling, batting, or all-rounder.

Speaking of the rating calculation of batters, their rating is calculated on the grounds of their runs, alongside the rating of the bowlers they have faced at the time of ranking assessment. Besides that, the comparison of the total aggregate or runs scored in a match and the result of the contest are also the factors that get considered to come up with a final conclusion of the rating points of a batter.

On the other hand, bowlers earn the rating points with the wickets they have scalped, and their performances against the batters who have high rating points. Apart from these two factors, the two other things that are considered in the case of bowlers are the number of runs they conceded per match, alongside the result of the game.

In the case of calculating the rating points of an all-rounder, it is based on a mathematical formula, which is explained below.

"Rating points of an all-rounder = Rating Points in batting*Rating Points bowling/1000"

The explanation for the above formula is that an all-rounder’s batting rating points are multiplied by his bowling rating points and divided by 1000 to get his final rating points as an all-rounder in the ranking of all-rounders. This formula is used across all formats of the game, be it Test, ODI of the T20Is.