· Australia and Sri Lanka compete in mid-table clash for important Test ranking points
· Anderson, Khawaja, Holder and Chandimal leading players to be seen in action
England will have to win their upcoming three-match series against the Windies starting on Wednesday in order to retain third position in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings while Australia and Sri Lanka will vie for important points in their two-match series starting a day later.
England’s challenge starts in Bridgetown with the Joe Root-led side knowing they have to win by at least a 1-0 margin to remain ahead of fourth-ranked New Zealand. A series victory will keep England ahead of New Zealand (107) on decimal points while a drawn series will see them drop to fourth position and 105 points.
A 3-0 sweep will lift England to 109 points but they will remain behind India and South Africa, while the Windies will remain in eighth position irrespective of how the matches pans out.
In the other series starting on Thursday, Australia and Sri Lanka will remain in fifth and sixth positions, respectively, whatever the series result. Australia will gain three points and go up to 104 if they win 2-0 with Sri Lanka losing two and going down to 89 in such a scenario. Sri Lanka can go up to 95 points and to within two points of Australia with a 2-0 series win. The predictor function is available here.
In the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings, second-ranked England fast bowler James Anderson would be looking to overtake South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada, with only eight points separating them while captain Joe Root will be the top-ranked batsman for the visiting side. For the Windies, Roston Chase (43rd) will the leading batsman in terms of rankings and captain Jason Holder (10th) the leading bowler.
For Australia, the fast bowling pair of Pat Cummins (fourth) and Josh Hazlewood (11th) among bowlers and Usman Khawana (12th) among batsmen will be the ones fancying their chances of moving up high on the rankings. Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal (16th) will be the top-ranked batsman for the visiting side in the absence of Angelo Mathews while Dilruwan Perera (26th) will be their top bowler.
Series scenarios:
Windies v England
· England win 3-0 – England 109 points, Windies 69 points
· England win 2-0 – England 108, Windies 70
· England win 1-0 or 2-1 – England 107, Windies 72
· Drawn series – England 105, Windies 74
· Windies win 1-0 or 2-1 – England 104, Windies 77
· Windies win 2-0 – England 103, Windies 78
· Windies win 1-0 – England 102, Windies 79
Australia v Sri Lanka
· Australia win 2-0 – Australia 104 points, Sri Lanka 89 points
· Australia win 1-0 – Australia 103, Sri Lanka 90
· Drawn series – Australia 100, Sri Lanka 92
· Sri Lanka win 1-0 – Australia 98, Sri Lanka 94
· Sri Lanka win 2-0 – Australia 97, Sri Lanka 95
Upcoming fixtures:
Windies v England:
23-27 Jan: 1st Test, Bridgetown
31 Jan-4 Feb: 2nd Test, Antigua
9-13 Feb: 3rd Test, Gros Islet
Australia v Sri Lanka:
24-28 Jan: 1st Test, Brisbane
1-5 Feb: 2nd Test, Canberra
MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings (as of 21 January, before the Windies-England and Australia-Sri Lanka series):
RANK TEAM POINTS
1. India 116
2. South Africa 110
3. England 108
4. New Zealand 107
5. Australia 101
6. Sri Lanka 91
7. Pakistan 88
8. West Indies 70
9. Bangladesh 69
10. Zimbabwe 13
11. Afghanistan 00
12. Ireland 00
MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 21 January, before the Windies-England and Australia-Sri Lanka Tests)
Batsmen (top 20)
Rank Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
1 Virat Kohli Ind 922 53.76 937 v Eng at Southampton 2018
2 K. Williamson NZ 897 51.44 915 v SL at Wellington 2018
3 C. Pujara Ind 881 51.18 888 v SL at Nagpur 2017
4 Steve Smith Aus 874 61.37 947 v SA at Durban 2018
5 Joe Root Eng 807 50.44 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
6 David Warner Aus 772 48.20 880 v NZ at Perth 2015
7 Henry Nicholls NZ 763*! 43.54 763 v SL at Christchurch 2018
8 Aiden Markram SA 741* 45.96 759 v Aus at Johannesburg 2018
9 D. Karunaratne SL 715 37.08 754 v SA at Colombo (SSC) 2018
10 Hashim Amla SA 711 47.33 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
11 Dean Elgar SA 693 40.10 784 v Aus at Johannesburg 2018
12= A. Mathews SL 687 44.79 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014
U. Khawaja Aus 687 42.11 747 v Pak at Sydney 2017
14 Q. de Kock SA 683 38.17 802 v NZ at Hamilton 2017
15 Tom Latham NZ 676! 41.59 676 v SL at Christchurch 2018
16 D. Chandimal SL 675 43.53 755 v Win at St Lucia 2018
17 Rishabh Pant Ind 673*! 49.71 673 v Aus at Sydney 2019
18 Kusal Mendis SL 671 37.90 693 v Win at St Lucia 2018
19 Faf du Plessis SA 667 42.07 734 v Ind at Centurion 2018
20 Babar Azam Pak 658! 35.28 658 v SA at Johannesburg 2019
Bowlers (top 20)
Rank Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
1 K. Rabada SA 882 21.41 902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018
2 J. Anderson Eng 874 26.98 903 v Ind at Lord's 2018
3 V. Philander SA 809 21.73 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013
4 Pat Cummins Aus 804* 24.51 836 v Ind at Melbourne 2018
5 R. Jadeja Ind 794 23.68 899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017
6 Trent Boult NZ 771 27.90 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015
7 M. Abbas Pak 770* 18.86 838 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2018
8 Tim Southee NZ 767 29.93 799 v Win at Jamaica 2014
9 R. Ashwin Ind 763 25.43 904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016
10 Jason Holder Win 751* 28.50 766 v Ind at Hyderabad 2018
11 J. Hazlewood Aus 743 27.14 863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017
12 S. Gabriel Win 742 29.73 757 v Ban at Jamaica 2018
13 Nathan Lyon Aus 723 32.10 774 v Eng at Adelaide 2017
14 Neil Wagner NZ 721 28.88 785 v Win at Wellington 2017
15 Jasprit Bumrah Ind 711*! 21.89 711 v Aus at Sydney 2019
16 Yasir Shah Pak 710 28.72 878 v Eng at Lord's 2016
17 Mehidy Hasan Ban 696*! 29.78 696 v Win at Dhaka 2018
18 Stuart Broad Eng 694 29.04 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
19 S. Al Hasan Ban 675 31.27 705 v Aus at Mirpur 2017
20 Mitchell Starc Aus 670 28.91 805 v SA at Durban 2018
All-rounders (top five)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Highest Rating
1 ( - ) S. Al Hasan Ban 415 489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017
2 ( - ) R. Jadeja Ind 387 438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017
3 ( - ) Jason Holder Win 365/* 381 v Ind at Hyderabad 2018
4 (+1) Ben Stokes Eng 342 396 v Win at Lord's 2017
5 (-1) V. Philander SA 341 378 v SL at Galle 2018
*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.
!indicates career-highest rating
For more information on player rankings, please click here.
ENDS
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C. Rajshekhar Rao
Manager – Media and Communications
Dubai Mobile- +971 50 554 5029
Email- rajshekhar.rao@icc-cricket.com
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