England goes second as Test championship is updated

England's recent run of good form in Test cricket has been rewarded with second place in the updated ICC Test Championship ratings.

The annual update has not changed England's rating, which remains 107, but with South Africa tumbling from 112 to 106, England moves into second spot for the first time since the ICC Test Championship was introduced in 2001.

This is the first time that South Africa has fallen outside of the top two in the official table but it will have an immediate chance to move back above England by winning its forthcoming series in Sri Lanka. If South Africa wins both Tests of this series, its rating will climb to 110.

As well as the challenge to its position that will be posed by South Africa, England must ensure that it wins its own series if it is to have any chance of holding on to second place over the coming weeks.

Michael Vaughan's team must beat the West Indies by at least two clear Tests (3-1 or 2-0) to maintain its current rating of 107. A repeat of the recent 3-0 away series win against the same opposition would lift its rating to 108. If England can only draw the series then its rating will fall to 103 and it will drop out of the top three.

India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka all improve their ratings as a result of the update. Despite its recent good results, India has the smallest rise of the three because its famous home series win against Australia in March 2001 now falls outside the rating period.

It therefore falls from fourth to fifth in the official table but will have an opportunity to compensate for this when it locks horns again with Australia in October.

If India wins this eagerly awaited series, it will jump straight into second place. For example, a repeat of its 2-1 victory margin from 2001 will see its rating climb to 111.

Over the last 12 months India's performances have been second only to Australia's. But the updated ratings incorporate three years of results and over this three-year period India has played 11 series; winning four, losing four and drawing three. The defeats have come at the hands of New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the West Indies.

Although Pakistan was beaten 2-1 by India in a three Test series earlier this year, these are the only two matches it has lost in the last 12 months. Pakistan's rating has also been helped by the fact that matches played in the 2000-01 period no longer count towards the standings. This was a year in which Pakistan lost at home to England and then drew in New Zealand and England.

Australia, of course, remains clear at the top of the official table. The update has improved its rating by two points to 129 and its lead at the top has extended to 22 points.

All series completed before 1 August 2001 now fall outside the rating period. In this three-year period Australia has won ten out of the 12 series that it has played, drawing the other two.

The updated ratings have been announced today because there are no further Test series to be completed before the end of July.

The updated ICC Test Championship table:

Analysis of the updated ICC Test Championship table:

	Rating			Position
	Updated rating	Pre-update	Change	Updated position	Pre-update	Change
Australia	129	127	2	1	1	0
Bangladesh	1	1	0	10	10	0
England	107	107	0	2	3	1
India	104	102	2	5	4	-1
N. Zealand	94	96	-2	7	6	-1
Pakistan	105	99	6	4	5	1
South Africa	106	112	-6	3	2	-1
Sri Lanka	99	94	6	6	7	1
West Indies	76	79	-3	8	8	0
Zimbabwe	51	54	-3	9	9	0

Developed by David Kendix

Full scenarios for the England v West Indies Test series:

Full scenarios for the Sri Lanka v South Africa Test series:

Full scenarios for the India v Australia Test series:

All matches included within the ICC Test Championship will always fall into one of two time periods:

- Period One covers the earliest two years of matches
- Period Two covers all subsequent series, i.e. the last one to two years

Weightings are applied to these two groups of series so that the ratings more fully reflect recent form. The weightings are as follows:

- Period One matches have a weighting of 50%
- Period Two matches have a weighting of 100%

Following this annual update, series completed since August 2003 have a weighting of 100%, while series completed between August 2001 and July 2003 have a weighting of 50%.

For full details of the results that no longer count towards the ICC Test Championship plus team-by-team analysis of the new ratings visit the Test cricket page of the official ICC website https://www.icc-cricket.com/icc/test