England slip one place in rankings

England’s surprise defeat in the third Test to West Indies in Barbados has seen them drop to fourth place in the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings.

The tourists slipped from a position of dominance to lose the final Test of the series by five wickets, allowing West Indies to level the series at 1-1.

England had entered the three-Test series in third place on 104 points, while the West Indies had begun in eighth spot on 76 points.

Following Sunday’s result, Alastair Cook’s men have dropped behind Pakistan into fourth position, while the West Indies, after gaining three points, has reduced with gap with seventh-placed India to 14 points.

Pakistan face Bangladesh in the second and final Test in Mirpur on Wednesday, and only a win will allow them to retain their new position in the Test rankings.

Such are the vagaries of the rankings calculations, a win for Pakistan will still have them drop a point to 102, equal with England but above them when measured out to beyond the decimal point.

A Bangladesh win would see Pakistan drop behind England (102) and New Zealand (99) in fifth position on 96 points, while if the Test is drawn, Pakistan will join New Zealand on 99 points but will be ranked above the Black Caps by a fraction of a point.

Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings (as on May 4)

1.      South Africa              124
2.      Australia                   119
3.      Pakistan                    103
4.      England                    102
5.      New Zealand              99
6.      Sri Lanka                   96
7.      India                         93
8.      West Indies               79
9.      Bangladesh                32
10.  Zimbabwe                    18