Reigning ICC World Test Championship winners Australia have overtaken India and claimed the No.1 spot on the ICC men’s Test team rankings.
The International Cricket Council updated their annual team rankings on Friday and Pat Cummins’ side rose to the top in five-day cricket on the back of their stunning 209-run triumph over India in the World Test Championship decider at The Oval last year.
It helped improve Australia’s rating to 124 points, four clear of their closest rival and last year’s World Test Championship runners up India (120) and 19 points clear of third-placed England (105).
It’s the only change at the top of the Test rankings, with South Africa (103), New Zealand (96), Pakistan (89), Sri Lanka (83), West Indies (82) and Bangladesh (53) remaining unchanged in spots between fourth and ninth.
The rankings update only takes into consideration teams’ performances after May 2021, with India’s impressive 2-1 series triumph over Australia under former skipper Virat Kohli that finished in January of 2021 dropping out of the rankings period.
All results between May 2021 and May 2023 are then weighted at 50 percent and the ones in the following 12 months – that includes Australia’s World Test Championship final victory – then weighted at 100 percent.
While India (122 points) may have lost top spot on the Test team rankings, they remained out in front in both white-ball formats and have increased their lead at the head of proceedings in ODI cricket to six rating points over Australia (116).
Third-placed South Africa (112) closed the gap on Australia to just four rating points, while Pakistan (106) and New Zealand (101) round out the top five. Seventh-placed Sri Lanka (93) are now just two rating points behind sixth-placed England (95), with Bangladesh (86), Afghanistan (80) and West Indies (69) rounding out the top 10.
India (264) also remained well out in front of the updated T20I rankings, although their lead has been reduced from 11 points to just seven with second-placed Australia (257) leaping ahead of third-placed England (252).
South Africa (250) rose two spots from sixth to fourth and now sit just two rating points behind England, with Pakistan (247) dropping two places to seventh and Scotland (192) a notable improver as they overtake Zimbabwe (191) to claim 12th.