Unusual Suspects crash the party.

Official ranking systems are pilloried at the best of times in sports. But this week when 3 teams from the Top 4 were knocked out before the Champions Trophy semi-finals the ICC might actually have been thankful. I have said this before - ODI fatigue arises out of unequal contests and poor quality cricket. Pakistan, England, New Zealand each came to South Africa with poor recent records and missing top players but played thrilling cricket, perhaps unburdened by the favourites tag. Pakistan are certainly the most talented and balanced team in ODI cricket and under Younis Khans leadership they should win more regularly in future. England and New Zealand have shown they can spring surprises but need to add more X-factor players besides Kevin Pietersen and Shane Bond if they are to win high-pressure games. India, South Africa and SriLanka werent focused enough and the knock-out format punished them for this. Australia have once again shown their class in ICC tournaments. Instead of lamenting the loss of top players or complaining about their gruelling schedule they've lifted their ODI game since the Ashes loss and scrapped past the group stage.