New Cricket Australia chief shrugs off sixth place in T20 rankings

Sydney, Oct 26(ANI): Cricket Australia (CA)'s incoming general manager of team performance, Pat Howard, insists that the national team is not overly disturbed by their modest placing in the newly launched International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20 International rankings.

Australia were listed at a lowly sixth in the rankings, having won two of their past 10 matches including one of two outings in South Africa this month.

However, Howard says that Australia's principal Twenty20 focus is the World Cup in Sri Lanka next September.

"Ultimately, we'll be measured on the performance at the World Cup. The rankings are important. They are a way to assess us along the way, but you can't change those today. We'll definitely be looking to gain confidence over the next couple of years," the Sydney morning Herald quoted Howard, as saying.

"The teams' rankings, the bowlers' rankings and the batsmen's rankings are all an excellent gauge to measuring your performance. But the outcome of any improvements we make will be measured by our performance at the World Cup," he added. (ANI)