AUCKLAND, New Zealand (CMC):

West Indies could dislocate New Zealand in cricket's one-day international (ODI) team ratings if they defeat the home side in their forthcoming series.

Currently rated No.8 in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table, West Indies are not positioned for any significant gain in the ODI ratings, but could edge into the No. 7 spot if they register an unlikely 5-0 thrashing of the Black Caps.

New Zealand are listed fifth in the current ODI ratings with a points rating of 113 and they would lose 11 ratings points if the went down 5-0, while the West Indies, with a points rating of 91, would gain 11.

A 5-0 win for West Indies would put both teams level on 102 points, but the ICC says the Caribbean side would in such an event "be placed higher than New Zealand in seventh place when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point".

If the Black Caps win the series 5-0, they would move up to 118 - leapfrogging Pakistan - for fourth place, just one point behind South Africa (119) and India (119), while the West Indies would stay in eighth place but drop to 86 rating points.

World Cup holders Australia are clearly in the No. 1 position with a 131 points rating.

The West Indies are not threatened for their No. 8 spot at this time by any lower-ranked teams, as ninth-place Bangladesh (47) are a bulky 44 rating points behind.

Any series defeat for New Zealand would mean they would lose their No. 5 rating and depending on the margin of defeat could be passed in the rankings by any or all their nearest rivals - England, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

The Black Caps start the series with a difference of 22 rating points relative to eighth-place West Indies and this gap means they are expected to win the series convincingly.

As such, because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, failure to win comfortably will mean the Black Caps will drop points.

The first of the five one-day matches will be at Queenstown tomorrow (tonight Caribbean time).

Both teams have players prominent on the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Player Rankings list.

New Zealand's fast-bowling all-rounder Jacob Oram is ODI's No. 1 all-rounder ahead of England's Andrew Flintoff, with West Indies captain Chris Gayle sharing the No. 3 spot with Pakistan's Shoaib Malik.

Gayle has previously held the No. 1 position on both the batting and all-rounders' lists.

West Indies have two Top-10 batsmen in the ODI ratings - Test batting's top man Shivnarine Chanderpaul at No. 4 and Gayle at fifth.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, at 13th, gives the Caribbean side a third player in the batting Top-20 and while the Black Caps are absent from the top frame in batting, they have as many as three in the bowling Top-10.

Their left-arm spinner and captain Daniel Vettori is ODI's No. 2 bowler, while pacer Kyle Mills is No. 5 and Oram is joint eighth with West Indies pacer Jerome Taylor.

Daren Powell also gets a Top-20 spot for the Windies at No. 19.

India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni is No. 1 and Australian Mike Hussey No. 2 in batting, while the Australian Nathan Bracken heads the bowlers' list.