Normality has been restored with the last two test matches to have been completed. That is to say, England beat the West Indies (who had surprsingly come from behind to level the two teams's three match series); and Australia won their second game in Bangladesh, to draw that series having lost the first game. Still, Banglasdesh's progress should be noted: they've now drawn series against both England and Australia within a year. My cricket ratings now look as follows:
India 212 (+102)
Australia 93 +7 (0)
South Africa 89 (+14)
England 72 +10 (-17)
New Zealand 53 (+3)
Pakistan 8 (-91)
Sri Lanka -18 (-71)
West Indies -58 -10 (+9)
Bangladesh -122 -6 (+50)
Zimbabwe -328 (-8)
The numbers in brackets, incidentally, are the changes over the course of the past year. The story of the past year has been India's dominance (albeit mostly acheived at home); Bangladesh's aforementioned improvment, and the failure of Pakistan to capitalise on their draw in England last summer and of Sri Lanka on their home win over Australia at around the same time. The really interesting test will be to see how India do when they next venture further afield.
The offical ICC rankings don't look so different:
India 125
South Africa 110
England 105
New Zealand 97
Australia 97 -3
Pakistan 93
Sri Lanka 90
West Indies 75
Bangladesh 74 +5
Zimbabwe 0
The immediate adjustments are different (i.e. Australia are up in my ratings but down in the official ones) because the ICC ratings are adjusted once per season, whereas my ratings are adjusted each game. The pecking order is also similar, except for the fact that the ICC ratings are harsher on Australia than mine. As an Englishman, I'm hoping the ICC have it right ahead of this winter's Ashes series. Before that, test cricket resumes when Sri Lanka visit the U.A.E, (where Pakistan will host) early next month.
Saturday, 9 September 2017
Sunday, 3 September 2017
Cricket World Ratings 3rd September 2017
Cricket, and sport in general, would be of no interest if the result was always predictable. And yet, sometimes predictability can be a self-fulfulling prophesy. Bangladesh are the youngest of the test-match playing nations; there is a large cricket-playing population there; but because their side has not been very good, few have wanted to play them in test matches. But without games, how can they get better? Yet arguably, the team currently features the world's best all-rounder, and within the last year, they have improved on a record which had seen them only previously defeat Zimbabwe and the West Indies by beating England at home, Sril Lanka away and now, in the first game between the two sides for many years, Australia as well. Their current rating of -116 is their best ever, and here's hoping that in future they get more regular chances to both demonstrate their talents, and improve them.
The fact that beating the West Indies had not been seen as much of an achievement is itself a sign of how far the West Indians, for long the world's best team, have fallen; and their abject loss to England in the first test of their current series was seen as a further sign of this. But in another unexpected result, the team have squared the series in the second match, and moreover, have done so by playing with unexpected resolve. The previously underperforming Shai Hope became the first batsmen ever to score two centuries in a first class match at Headingly, as the vistors sucessfully chased a total of over 300 to win the game. England are still favourites for the series, but in Leeds, they were unambiguously outplayed.
One thing this does do is widen India's enormous lead at the top of the current rankings, but it's good to see signs of competitiveness below:
India 212
South Africa 89
Australia 86 -29
England 62 -25
New Zealand 53
Pakistan 8
Sri Lanka -18
West Indies -48+25
Bangladesh -116 +29
Zimbabwe -328
The fact that beating the West Indies had not been seen as much of an achievement is itself a sign of how far the West Indians, for long the world's best team, have fallen; and their abject loss to England in the first test of their current series was seen as a further sign of this. But in another unexpected result, the team have squared the series in the second match, and moreover, have done so by playing with unexpected resolve. The previously underperforming Shai Hope became the first batsmen ever to score two centuries in a first class match at Headingly, as the vistors sucessfully chased a total of over 300 to win the game. England are still favourites for the series, but in Leeds, they were unambiguously outplayed.
One thing this does do is widen India's enormous lead at the top of the current rankings, but it's good to see signs of competitiveness below:
India 212
South Africa 89
Australia 86 -29
England 62 -25
New Zealand 53
Pakistan 8
Sri Lanka -18
West Indies -48
Bangladesh -116 +29
Zimbabwe -328
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