Cricket: NZ lose place in one-day ranking

New Zealand have been delivered an early, albeit superficial, setback a week out from their Champions Trophy campaign in England.

The side that won the title four years ago in Kenya arrived in England as the second-ranked ODI side in the world, but were demoted to No 3 within 24 hours and without even playing a game.

One of the biggest movers on the International Cricket Council's ODI table were Sri Lanka, who leap-frogged New Zealand after recording an impressive 5-0 whitewash of South Africa, including a 49-run win in the series finale on Monday.

The other was South Africa, who dropped to an unprecedented sixth place in the rankings after a record-equalling 10th consecutive ODI loss, dating back to their second match of last summer's New Zealand tour.

The reshuffle of the rankings might have taken some of the marketing gloss off the Australia-New Zealand showdown at The Oval on Thursday week, a heavyweight clash long billed as the official No 1 v No 2. But it is unlikely to make much difference to coach John Bracewell, who is keen to avoid a repeat of the disappointing campaign in Sri Lanka two years ago.

On that occasion, New Zealand were crushed by Australia to the tune of 164 runs, and to rub salt into the wound had to hang around for an extra week for a meaningless game against Bangladesh.

Bracewell's side played a warm-up game yesterday against a Somerset 11, and will continue their build-up with games against a Gloucester-Somerset outfit tonight and Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

The New Zealand coach said yesterday he was confident the injuries that bedevilled the side during the test series in England earlier in the year would not return to hamstring the Champions Trophy campaign.

The three most vulnerable players - Daryl Tuffey, Chris Cairns and Kyle Mills - were all looking in good shape and had been scheduled to play in the match against Somerset overnight.

"Daryl's looking fine," he said. "I think it's now a matter of improving his consistency and rhythm so that he can get back into the sort of form that made him so effective in past series and tournaments.

"As for Chris [Cairns], he's basically resigned to his ankle injury always giving him a bit of grief. It's not really going to get any better, and needs to be managed carefully."

Bracewell said the fitness of Mills had never been an issue for the management team, as the Auckland all-rounder had only needed time to fully recover from the injury suffered in England.

He confirmed that the three players not included for the first warm-up match - Scott Styris, Ian Butler and Chris Harris - would probably play in the following game against the combined counties side.

The only question mark was over Styris, who was sidelined last night by a bout of 'flu, and would be assessed today before his availability was confirmed.