England's cricketers found themselves with a double cause for celebration on Wednesday as they were confirmed as qualifiers for the second stage of October's ICC Champions Trophy in India.
Only sides in the top six of the LG ICC ODI Championship table on April 1, 2006, automatically reach that stage and England will now be at least sixth on that date thanks to Sri Lanka's four-wicket loss to Pakistan in Colombo.
It caps a great day for England as they also beat India in the third Test in Mumbai to level that series, a win that saw them retain second spot in the LG ICC Test Championship table.
The result in Colombo dropped seventh-placed Sri Lanka to 105 rating points and it means that even if England lose their two ODI matches against India before the cut-off date they cannot drop out of the top six.
- Also see: Rediff ODI rankings | Rediff Test rankings
If that scenario happened, England would slip to 105 rating points but would still retain sixth place when the ratings were recalculated to three decimal places.
Nine of the ten teams taking part in the ICC Champions Trophy have been decided and only one place, between Bangladesh and Kenya, remains up for grabs.
Bangladesh are currently in tenth place in the table and will retain that position if they win their ongoing four-match series against the Kenyans by two clear matches. They are already 2-0 up so are well placed to do just that.
Pakistan are another side with a double cause to celebrate after their success in Sri Lanka.
Their win on Wednesday has not only secured them the ODI series 2-0 but also confirmed a two-place jump up the table to third after they started the series in fifth spot.
Pakistan have gone ahead of both New Zealand and India and are now just five rating points behind second-placed South Africa.
They were in third place at start of this year but dropped down the table thanks to a 4-1 series loss to India last month.
World champions Australia lead the ODI table by 13 points.
