Australia consolidate top position in Test rankings after annual update

Australia has increased their lead over second-placed India from one to nine rating points while Pakistan has overtaken England to the fifth position in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Team Rankings following the annual update carried out today.

Australia, who beat England 4-0 in a five-match home series in January, has moved from 119 to 128 rating points in the annual update that drops the 2018-19 season and reflects all series completed since May 2019. Series completed before May 2021 are now weighted at 50 percent and subsequent series at 100 percent.

India has also gained a point to move to 119 while England has had the biggest decrease of nine points as their 4-1 series win over India in 2018 is now dropped from the rankings. England’s 88 rating points are their lowest since 1995.

The England versus India series that began in 2021, will be included in the rankings once the final postponed Test is completed.

South Africa has closed the gap with third-placed New Zealand from 13 points to just one point in the updated rankings that still contain 10 teams since Afghanistan and Ireland are yet to play enough Tests to be included in the rankings.

In the updated ODI rankings, New Zealand remains on top but their lead over England is reduced from three to one point. The gap between England and third-placed Australia has increased from seven to 17 points. Pakistan has moved past South Africa to fifth place while the United Arab Emirates are the biggest gainers, earning six rating points and advancing two places to 13th.

India remains on top in T20Is, extending their lead over second-placed England from one to five points. South Africa and Australia have overtaken New Zealand, which is now in sixth place. Similarly, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are now ahead of Afghanistan (10th).

The biggest rating improvement has been by Portugal, who have moved up five places to 45^th in the latest update, in which the number of ranked teams has fallen from 91 to 72, as 19 teams have not played the required six rated matches since May 2019.

Of the 19 teams to have lost their ranking, 11 still have a rating since they played some T20Is in the past three years. Mexico, the Philippines, and the Isle of Man have played five matches so will regain their ranking when they play their next match, while France, Peru, Hungary, Samoa, Brazil, Chile, and Turkey will regain their ranking after playing two more matches. Bhutan needs to play four more matches to be ranked.

Fiji, Costa Rica, Japan, South Korea, St Helena, China, Indonesia, and Myanmar have not played since May 2019 and so have lost their rating.

Latest ICC Men’s Test Team Rankings

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