Australia up to No.2 in latest Test rankings
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Australia have moved up to No.2 on the latest ICC Test rankings following the annual update on the ladder by cricket’s world governing body.
South Africa has fallen behind Michael Clarke’s men in the rankings although the Proteas can leap above Australia and England if they win their upcoming Test series against the world No.1 team.
Australia have 116 points while South Africa are now on 113 with England out in front on 122.
It means the No.1 spot is up for grabs for the second northern hemisphere summer in succession after England climbed to the game’s summit with a series win over India last year.
A drawn series or 1-0 win for England will mean Andrew Strauss’s men retain top spot while a 2-0 or 3-0 win to England would send South Africa down to fourth.
The alteration in Australia’s position comes with the oldest results dropping out of the rankings calculations – in this case 2008-9 – and it was this period which included series wins for the Proteas in England and Australia.
These results no longer count meaning Australia moves up one more position away from their nadir of fifth spot in 2009.
India and Pakistan have also changed places.
Pakistan, despite a 1-0 defeat in the three-Test series which finished in Sri Lanka on Thursday, have moved up to fourth while MS Dhoni’s side, No.1 this time last year, are now down in fifth place.
Lower down the table West Indies has fallen below New Zealand, who now go seventh. Zimbabwe still have not played sufficient Test matches to be ranked in the table having only played four in the ranking period.
© AAP 2013The Crowd Says (23) | Page 1 of Comments
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July 15th 2012 @ 3:37pm
Jason said | July 15th 2012 @ 3:37pm | Report comment
What a joke the ranking are.
July 15th 2012 @ 6:49pm
lolly said | July 15th 2012 @ 6:49pm | Report comment
Why are the rankings a joke? The Aussies test results aren’t bad at all. India has really fallen away after being no 1 briefly and SA are always thereabouts. There are only ever 4/5 teams who are fighting it out for top spot.
July 15th 2012 @ 7:36pm
Disco said | July 15th 2012 @ 7:36pm | Report comment
Yeah, unless Australia upset South Africa, they’ll be back to third I’d say.
July 15th 2012 @ 8:53pm
James said | July 15th 2012 @ 8:53pm | Report comment
lets be honest, there are only 2 teams fighting it out for the top spot and depending on how the upcoming england v south africa games go, there may only be one. england and south africa are streets ahead of all other nations with daylight to australia.
July 15th 2012 @ 9:39pm
The Werewolf said | July 15th 2012 @ 9:39pm | Report comment
I agree with Jason, Disco and James
July 16th 2012 @ 12:45am
Brendon said | July 16th 2012 @ 12:45am | Report comment
If South Africa are “streets ahead” then why haven’t South Africa beaten Australia in our past two series, both of which were in South Africa? You might think that South Africa are a better team, they probably are, but rankings only measure performance over a set period of time – not potential.
July 16th 2012 @ 5:43pm
Disco said | July 16th 2012 @ 5:43pm | Report comment
SA have done better generally.
July 17th 2012 @ 10:39am
Boris said | July 17th 2012 @ 10:39am | Report comment
Not sure which team has underachieved more in the last 10 years – South Africa or India… Both overrated in my opinion, especially with the overall standard of Test cricket being what it is. Not saying the Aussie are that great, but to say the Saffas are “streets ahead” is a little over the top.
July 16th 2012 @ 10:03am
Johnno said | July 16th 2012 @ 10:03am | Report comment
-Australian team is not that bad that;s a fact. We had a brief hic up for a couple of years after losing all the stars of the golden generation. But then thanks to the argus review have got back on our feet again.
-Our decline has been nothing like the west indies cricket decline. And now thanks to the argus review we are back on our feet again.
-And out team at full strength can match south africa’s. Dale steiin is great and morn morkel is great when switched on but is inconsistent. They only have really 2 front line bowlers and not much depth in the pac stocks now Nintini has retired. There spinner, from Pakistan is not bad but he is no shane warne or stuart mcagill.
-Bouch has had to retire and his test scores were fading anyway and wasn’t even in the ODI team anymore.
-Batting good but not as good, Duminy has not not kicked on. So SA have a few cracks i would back australia now to beat SA in Australia, . Kallis is ageing and can’t go on forever.
July 16th 2012 @ 10:12am
k77sujith said | July 16th 2012 @ 10:12am | Report comment
I think Australia has had more success in Test cricket in recent times than in the ODI format. Having said that, time will tell whether they can replicate that success on a consistent basis playing away from home and not become what India is (Kings at home and jokers abroad). Thanks.
July 16th 2012 @ 12:14pm
Brian said | July 16th 2012 @ 12:14pm | Report comment
Having lost the last home and away series to England, lost at home to South Africa and drawn away, lost in India and beaten them at home its pretty good that with this 1W 1D 4L record Australia is 2nd with apparently a chance to go top.
July 16th 2012 @ 3:36pm
Jason said | July 16th 2012 @ 3:36pm | Report comment
Wouldn’t we have to beat England to do that?
July 16th 2012 @ 12:16pm
Don Corleone said | July 16th 2012 @ 12:16pm | Report comment
This is Australia’s test record for the last 12 months for those blissful in their ignorance or couldn’t be bothered looking:-
Aug-Sep 2011 (Australia in Sri Lanka) Result Australia 1-0 (3)
Nov 2011 (Australia in South Africa) Result Drawn 1-1 (2)
Dec 2011 (New Zealand in Australia) Result Drawn 1-1 (2)
Dec 2011 – Jan 2012 (India in Australia) Result Australia 4-0 (4)
Apr 2012 (Australia in West Indies) Result Australia 2-0 (3)
14 tests, 9 wins, 2 losses, 3 draws – 3 won series 2 drawn series.
July 16th 2012 @ 9:05pm
Disco said | July 16th 2012 @ 9:05pm | Report comment
It looks good on paper, but outside of the 2 Tests in SA, I’d question the general strength of the bowling faced in those encounters.
And flaws remain – it was, after all, still a 12-month period in which the side was embarrassed in Cape Town and Hobart.
July 16th 2012 @ 10:02pm
The Werewolf said | July 16th 2012 @ 10:02pm | Report comment
a good post.
England also destroyed an ageing uncommitted India recently but were much better than us against the west indies recently. We were good against them without being very good. England were much better against them but they played them at home.
I suppose that is why many believe the ashes will be close.
I don’t because I think the gap between England and us is huge and at the end of the day it is the Ashes that we should be most concerned with,
lets not forget against SA we were made at times to look amateur. were we not bowled out for 40 odd? that was a strange series. and to draw with NZ in a home series is not a good result. NZ are a poor test cricketing side.
we are not currently good enough to win back the Ashes. we need to coem to terms with that to make sure we strive for a greta deal of improvement in the next 12 months.
July 16th 2012 @ 12:39pm
Brew said | July 16th 2012 @ 12:39pm | Report comment
Australia has won the last three test series against Sri Lanka (away), India (home) and West Indies (away).
India visited Australia as the number one test team didn’t they?
Australia also hase fairly decent pace bowling stocks, with Hilfenhaus, Harris, Siddle, Johnson, Stark, Pattinson, Cummins and Cutting. Some of these bowlers consistently swing the ball. All can bowl balls at up to 145kph. In some epochs we have barely had a bowler in Australia able to reach 140 kph on the speed gun.
Agree our batting stocks are a concern for players aged in their twenties though. We are also short of a regular, consistently performing leggie at Shield level. Maybe too many of our wickets favour pace over spin?
July 16th 2012 @ 4:00pm
Matt H said | July 16th 2012 @ 4:00pm | Report comment
Yes when the rankings do not agree with our feelings they must be crap. Seriously though as far as I can remember in test cricket Australia has only been spanked once in recent memory. And yes it was a hell of a spanking. But we have not lost a test series to anyone other than SA and England that I can remember. Everyone talks up SA as being much stronger than us and I agree that on paper it looks to be the case. However it was only last year that we were drawing a series in SA. And even the 2009 Ashes was a close contest. and because we had already lost on 2005, there was no furthe rloss of rankings points.
I think that:
1. because when we lost it was the Ashes, and
2. that we have been conditioned to have very high expectations
that we tend to minimise the successes and emphasise the failures of our test team. We are actually not that bad.
July 16th 2012 @ 5:45pm
Disco said | July 16th 2012 @ 5:45pm | Report comment
Australia lost last time it toured India.
July 16th 2012 @ 8:49pm
Brew said | July 16th 2012 @ 8:49pm | Report comment
Matt, you raise some fair points.
July 16th 2012 @ 4:48pm
Inclusive soul said | July 16th 2012 @ 4:48pm | Report comment
Certainly the Australian Cricket Team has it’s issues but it is currently number 1 in ODIs and number 2 in tests out of 10 member nations, not including associates.
While there’s room for improvement, Australia is highly competitive in a truly international sport unlike our other sports like Rugby League (played by 2 Australian states, 2 English counties, 2 New Zealand islands and Papua New Guinea) and AFL (not even rated as a sport beyond our shores).
July 16th 2012 @ 9:55pm
The Werewolf said | July 16th 2012 @ 9:55pm | Report comment
No 1 in ODI’s……. in rankings yes but not realty. 4 nil loss against england IS? I think you need to rethink this as an argument for Australia doing well.
I am confused what has league and AFL have to do with this?
July 18th 2012 @ 10:26am
Inclusive soul said | July 18th 2012 @ 10:26am | Report comment
So, with that logic you’d also argue that England isn’t the top test team because they got beaten by a lowly-ranked Pakistan 3-0 in the recent test series in the UAE?
I’m merely saying that Australia is at the top of a sport which is played by a fair proportion of the globe unlike a sport like AFL which is provincial and insular.
July 24th 2012 @ 11:33am
7andabit said | July 24th 2012 @ 11:33am | Report comment
England are the only team that seems to be playing cricket 24/7.
But looking good for SA. 1st and third in the rankings