As the English summer drew to a close, four teams were in contention for the top position in cricket's world ratings: England, Pakistan, India and Australia. The latter had held the top spot, but lost it after an unexpected drubbing in Sri Lanka. When Pakistan beat England in the final test of their series, they went top in the official ratings; but in my system, it was India who grabbed the lead. Now, however, India have beaten New Zealand for two tests in a row, guaranteeing a series win (there's just one game still to come). The official ratings won't be updated until the series has ended, but it's already a certainty that India (even if the last match is lost) will gain sufficient points to end Pakistan's brief reign. Pakistan have only ever been rated first once before (in 1988) and that was for a similarly brief interval. In my system, where India were already top, they've increased their margins, and the list now looks as follows:
India 134 +12
Australia 93
Pakistan 93
South Africa 90
England 89
Sri Lanka 52
New Zealand 10 -12
West Indies -69
Bangladesh -172
Zimbabwe -320
And the very narrow lead that India had held is now starting to grow. There's a lot more cricket to be payed before Christmas, but that includes more home test matches for India. The safest bet is that India will further boost their lead, although the four teams who remain within a whisker of one another behind them will all have ambitions. England's games against Bangladesh are among the next to come.
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