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Lahore : England takes on Pakistan in the upcoming four-Test home series knowing that it is within striking distance of overtaking the opposition in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings.
England, which recently prevailed 2-0 over Sri Lanka in a three-Test home series, is only three points behind Pakistan’s 111 points. This means that margins of 2-1 or 1-0 win will be enough for it to go past Pakistan in the points table, currently led by Australia at 118 points. Either of these results will see England lift to 110 points and Pakistan slip down to 107.
If England prevails 2-0 or 3-1, it will tie with second-placed India at 112 points, which is due to take on the West Indies in a four-Test series that ends a week after the England-Pakistan series. In case England is able to capitalise on the home advantage even better, it can rise to second position to 113 points with a 3-0 win and to 114 if it blanks Pakistan 4-0.
The small difference in points between India, Pakistan and England throws up a number of interesting scenarios.
A win for Pakistan in the series, by a 2-1 or 3-1 margin, will help it leapfrog India into second place, a position it has reached only once since the officials rankings were launched in 2003. That was in November last year when it beat England 2-0 in the United Arab Emirates.
Pakistan even has a chance to surge to the top of the rankings, but to make this happen it will have to win 3-0 or better. Pakistan’s best performance in England has been a 2-0 win in a three-Test series in 1996.
Some of the permutations are:
- If England wins 2-1 = England 110 and Pakistan 107
- If England wins 3-1 – England 112 and Pakistan 105
- If England wins 3-0 – England 113 and Pakistan 103
- If England wins 4-0 – England 114 and Pakistan 101
- If Pakistan wins 2-1 – Pakistan 115 and England 106
- If Pakistan wins 3-1 – Pakistan 117 and England 104
- If Pakistan wins 3-0 – Pakistan 119 and England 103
- If Pakistan wins 4-0 – Pakistan 121 and England 102
- In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, England’s Joe Root will start as the highest-ranked batsman from either side in fourth place. The Yorkshire batsman will be keen to convert his poor run of form, which has seen him drop two places and 52 points following an ordinary series against Sri Lanka.
Captain Alastair Cook (12th) and in-form Jonny Bairstow (18th) are the other England batsmen to feature inside the top 20, who along with Ben Stokes (37th) and Moeen Ali (39th) will be aiming to make upward movements.
Bairstow has a chance to break into the top 10 if he continues the kind of form he showed in the recent home series against Sri Lanka, in which he aggregated 387 runs including an unbeaten 167 at Lord’s.
Pakistan boasts five batsmen inside the top 20, while opener Mohammad Hafeez is just outside the top 20 in 22nd place.
Younus Khan, who in the series against England in the UAE last season had become his country’s first batsman to complete 9,000 Test runs, is the highest-ranked batsman in fifth position. He trails Root by 11 points and will be eyeing a top three finish by the time the series concludes in mid-August at The Oval.
Captain Misbah-ul-Haq is in 10th position and he is followed by Asad Shafiq (13th), Sarfraz Ahmed (19th) and Azhar Ali (20th).
Australia’s Steve Smith leads the field and he is followed by Kane Williamson of New Zealand and South Africa’s Hashim Amla.
In the MRF Tyres Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, James Anderson is likely to slip from his one-number position after a shoulder injury has sidelined him from the Lord’s Test. As each player is docked one per cent of his points for each Test he misses, Anderson is set to drop behind India’s Ravichandaran Ashwin, whom he leads by six points.
England’s third-ranked Stuart Broad will be the highest-ranked bowler going into the first Test. He is followed by Pakistan’s wrist-spinner Yasir Shah, who is still 24 wickets away from attaining the full ranking that comes with 100 Test wickets, but has a good chance of making it to the number one position this season.
Other bowlers aiming to improve their rankings include Stokes (26th), Zulfiqar Babar (28th), Moeen Ali (30th), Rahat Ali (35th), Wahab Riaz (38th) and Imran Khan (47th).
The Test player rankings will now be updated at the conclusion of the Lord’s Test.
Series schedule:
14-18 July – 1st Test, Lord’s
22-26 July – 2nd Test, Old Trafford
3-7 August – 3rd Test, Edgbaston
11-15 August – 4th Test, The Oval
MRF Tyres ICC Test Rankings (as of 12 July 2016, before the start of England-Pakistan series)
Rank Team Points
- Australia 118
- India 112
- Pakistan 111
- England 108
- New Zealand 98
- South Africa 92
- Sri Lanka 85
- West Indies 65
- Bangladesh 57
(Developed by David Kendix)
Note: Zimbabwe has 12 points but has not played the required eight Test matches over the new rating period to be included on the main table. It will reflect on the table as soon as it plays two more Tests
MRF Tyres ICC Test player rankings (as of 12 July, before the start of England-Pakistan series)
Batsmen (Top 10)
Rank Player Team Points Avge Highest Ranking
1 Steve Smith Aus 925 60.18 936 v Eng at Lord’s 2015
2 K. Williamson NZ 868 49.23 893 v Aus at Perth 2015
3 Hashim Amla SA 860 51.45 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
4 Joe Root Eng 837 52.92 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
5 Younus Khan Pak 826 53.94 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
6 AB de Villiers SA 818 50.46 935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014
7 Adam Voges Aus 811*! 95.50 811 v NZ at Christchurch 2016
8 David Warner Aus 800 50.06 880 v NZ at Perth 2015
9 Angelo Mathews SL 765 48.70 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014
10 Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 764 48.89 842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014
Selected rankings
Rank Player Team Points Avge Highest Ranking
12 Alastair Cook Eng 730 46.89 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
13 Asad Shafiq Pak 726 43.28 746 v Eng at Dubai 2015
18 Jonny Bairstow Eng 695! 39.77 695 v SL at Lord’s 2016
19 Sarfraz Ahmed Pak 691* 46.28 715 v SL at Galle 2015
20 Azhar Ali Pak 673 43.37 753 v SL at Pallekele 2012
22 M. Hafeez Pak 642! 40.85 642 v Eng at Sharjah 2015
37 Ben Stokes Eng 537 33.21 594 v Aus at Lord’s 2015
39 Moeen Ali Eng 533 30.75 558 v SL at Durham 2016
Bowlers (Top 10)
Rank Player Team Points Avge Highest Ranking
1 James Anderson Eng 877 28.33 884 v SL at Durham 2016
2 R. Ashwin Ind 871! 25.39 871 v SA at Delhi 2015
3 Stuart Broad Eng 852 28.52 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
4 Yasir Shah Pak 846*! 24.17 846 v Eng at Sharjah 2015
5 Dale Steyn SA 841 23.76 789 v SA at Delhi 2015
7 Trent Boult NZ 757 29.14 825 v Eng at Lord’s 2015
8 Josh Hazlewood Aus 741* 25.77 792 v WI at Hobart 2015
9 Morne Morkel SA 724 29.33 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
10 V. Philander SA 717 22.08 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013
Selected rankings
Rank Player Team Points Avge Highest Ranking
26 Ben Stokes Eng 491* 37.84 501 v SL at Headingley 2016
28 Zulfiqar Babar Pak 477* 38.82 501 v NZ at Dubai 2014
30 Moeen Ali Eng 467* 41.28 557 v SA at Durban 2015
35 Rahat Ali Pak 422*! 36.25 422 v Eng at Sharjah 2015
38 Wahab Riaz Pak 409* 34.16 431 v Eng at Dubai 2015
47 Imran Khan Pak 368* 28.10 372 v Eng at Dubai 2015
All-rounders (top 5)
Rank Player Team Points Highest Ranking
1 R. Ashwin Ind 406 419 v WI at Mumbai 2013
2 Shakib Al Hasan Ban 384 419 v Zim at Khulna 2014
3 Stuart Broad Eng 284 382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012
4 V. Philander SA 275*/ 376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014
5 Ben Stokes Eng 264 /* 276 v SA at Centurion 2016
