Cricket World Ratings 11th February 2018

Bangladesh managed a draw in the first game of their two match series at home to Sri Lanka, although they got the poorer end of a high-scoring contest.  In their second, lower scoring match, the visitors asserted themselves and took the series 1-0.  This has had a small effect on my world ratings, in fact, almost exactly cancelling out the impact of the previous draw (in other words, the 1-0 result was almost exactly as predicted, based on the teams' prior rankings):

India         174
Australia     141
South Africa  129
New Zealand    73 
Sri Lanka      29 +9
England        24
Pakistan      -27    
West Indies   -86
Bangladesh   -135 -9
Zimbabwe     -322

The series has had a small net effect on the official rankings:

India        121
South Africa 115 
Australia    104
New Zealand  100    
England       99
Sri Lanka     95 +1
Pakistan      88  
West Indies   72   
Bangladesh    71 -1  
Zimbabwe       1  
 
Next up: in March, South Africa go to Australia.  If they can win there, having recently beaten India at home, they can surely make a credible case for being considered the world's best team; but Australia, following on from their 4-0 Ashes victor, will be confident at home. It should be a good series to watch.

Cricket World Ratings 4th February 2018

There have been some encouraging signs for Bangladeshi cricket over the past year-and-a -half: home wins against England and Australia, and an away win against Sri Lanka.  Now, playing the Sri Lankans at home in a two-test series, Bangladesh have started with a draw, albeit in a very high-scoring game that was many wickets short of a result.  Still, it's yet another reminder that the team are no pushovers any more, and much closer to the elite sides than they are to fellow minnows Zimbabwe. The second test starts on Thursday.

India         174
Australia     141
South Africa  129
New Zealand    73 
England        24
Sri Lanka      20 -9
Pakistan      -27    
West Indies   -86
Bangladesh   -126 +9
Zimbabwe     -322