Australia had a memorable series against Pakistan last month. The 1-0 victory for Cummins and co. was hard fought and earned. We can say that this team is the additional Aussie team that plays with absolute dominance over its opponents.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released the Test team rankings on Wednesday. According to the latest rankings, Australia have grabbed the first spot after a 4-0 Ashes win and a 1-0 series win against Pakistan. Australia is at the first place with 128 points.
With this, the Indian epoch of domination, which has been running for the last 5 years, has ended. Team India remained at the top for the last 5 years. India are sitting in second place, with nine points behind Australia. The new rankings reflect all Test series completed since May 2019, including those completed before March 2022.
Australia has played only 19 matches while second and third positioned team India and New Zealand have played 23 matches each. Subsequently it will give Australia a release of extra comfort. South Africa is at number 4 playing 21 matches and only one point behind New Zealand who have 111 points.
As it looks, India, Australia and New Zealand will be neck to neck competing for the World Test Championship finals from here on. India will visit England for a one test match that was abandoned last year, they will surely project for a convincing victory which will allow India to stay at the second place.
Having a young team, South Africa has been story of inspiration for their own accords. They came upfront and defeated world class teams at their backyard, now they will require to repeat similar on tours.
In the new rankings, England jumped from 97 to 88 points, in which they have lost nine points. New captain Ben Stokes has now taken over the captaincy of the England Test team. But in the last 12 months, England has won only one Test match.
According to the ICC, “England has the lowest points in this new rating since 1995. England continues to slide down the rankings after a 4-1 series win over India in 2018.” However, his rating may improve in the coming months. His results will be included in their current ratings after the Test at Edgbaston in July. According to the ICC, “The ranking consists of 10 teams, with Afghanistan and Ireland remaining to play a few Test matches.”