England wins series but misses chance for big jump up LG ICC ODI Championship table

England's 3-2 series win in Sri Lanka is certainly something for Paul Collingwood and his team-mates to celebrate.

After all, it included the side's first ODI win in the country for 25 years and is England's first series win in a ODI rubber in the Asian sub-continent since 1987, when Mike Gatting's team beat Pakistan 3-0 in the aftermath of the ICC Cricket World Cup.

And as it follows a 4-3 series win over India in August and September, it can be viewed as further progress for a side that has often under-achieved in one-day cricket.

But after crashing to defeat by 107 runs in the final match in Colombo on Saturday evening, Collingwood could be forgiven for thinking what might have been, even as he held aloft the series trophy.

Victory in that final match would have secured fourth spot in the LG ICC ODI Championship table and England's highest placing since January 2005 ahead of a series in South Africa.

Instead England remains in seventh position, the same spot it occupied at the start of the series.

It is a clear illustration of how tightly packed the teams are in the middle section of the ladder with just one rating point separating four teams, but there is a plus side for Collingwood and company.

His line-up has still gained two rating points over the course of the series and is now just one point behind those three sides directly above it, Sri Lanka (fourth), Pakistan (fifth) and India (sixth).

That trio is separated only when the ratings are calculated to three decimal places but there is plenty of scope for the situation to change over the coming days and weeks.

That is because India is in the midst of a series against table-toppers Australia while Pakistan is about to go head-to-head with South Africa in a five-match series that starts on Thursday.

Sri Lanka has lost three rating points during its series against England but that win on Saturday night, with Dilhara Fernando capturing a career-best 6-27, has seen it stay put in fourth spot, although it is now six points behind New Zealand, in third position.

Saturday's match was England's last in this form of the game in 2007, a year in which it has had plenty of highs and lows. It shocked the cricket world by beating hosts Australia and New Zealand to lift a tri-series in January and February but could not replicate that form to make a significant impact at the ICC Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean.

A series loss against the West Indies at home followed, but since then those successes against India and Sri Lanka have given cause for optimism.

World Champions Australia goes into Sunday's ODI against India in Nagpur with a comfortable six-point advantage over South Africa at the top of the table.