Cricket World Ratings 27th November 2018

England are on a roll at the moment: 8 wins in 9, and they've just completed a rare away whitewash, beating Sri Lanka for the 3rd test in succession.  Meanwhile, Pakistan, narrowly pipped in their first match against New Zealand, have gained some revenge by comprehensively winning the following match. My cricket world ratings now look like this:

England       221 +20  
India         183 
South Africa  175        
Australia     129
Pakistan      129 +31
New Zealand   119 -30
Sri Lanka      87 -20
West Indies     1    
Bangladesh   -119   
Zimbabwe     -252    
Ireland      -319    
Afghanistan  -351


Pakistan and New Zealand will now play a decider; the West Indies head to Bangladesh; most itneresting is whether India will be able to reassert themselves, on tour to an Australian side who've been struggling since the ball-tampering contraversy last winter.  England will be back in action in the new year, when they will tour the Caribbean.

Cricket World Ratings 20th November 2018

Zimbabwe won their first match away from home for 15 years when they played Bangladesh earlier this month.  But the home side have since won the second test match, drawing the series.  England, meanwhile, have managed to win two on the trot in Sri Lanka, guaranteeing a series win with one more to play.  The most interesting recent match, however, was Pakistan's first game in New Zealand, in which the visitors held the whip hand for most of the game but succumbed at the end by just four runs, the 5th closest test match in history.  The net effect of these games on my cricket world ratings is as follows.  The most striking feature is England's ascendency.  Well beaten in the Ashes, and defeated in their first home test of the summer, England now stand 7-1 in their last eight games, including a 4-1 series win over highly rated India, and now two away victories.  They may not be a great team, yet, but it's not unambiguously clear who is really stronger than them right now.

England       201 +24  
India         183 
South Africa  175      
New Zealand   149 +15
Australia     129
Sri Lanka     107 -23
Pakistan       98 -15    
West Indies     1    
Bangladesh   -119 +10   
Zimbabwe     -252  -9   
Ireland      -319    
Afghanistan  -351

The official ratings, meanwhile, look like this:

India        116
South Africa 106 
England      105  
New Zealand  102 
Australia    102
Sri Lanka     97 
Pakistan      95
West Indies   76
Bangladesh    67  
Zimbabwe       2 

The Bangladesh-Zimbabwe series, has, interestingly made no difference at all to the previous scores.  The other series are not yet complete and will only impact upon the ratings when they're done.

Cricket World Ratings, 10th November 2018

Two slightly surprising matches have been played this month.  Firstly, Zimbabwe won their first test match away from home since 2001, seeing off Bangladesh; and England won their first away victory since 2016, beating Sri Lanka.  The effect on my world ratings is as follows:


India         183 
England       177 +28  
South Africa  175      
New Zealand   134 
Sri Lanka     130 -26
Australia     129
Pakistan      113    
West Indies     1    
Bangladesh   -129 -36   
Zimbabwe     -243 +36   
Ireland      -319    
Afghanistan  -351

The recent changes made to my world rating system make them especially sensitive to unexpected away victories. Are England really the 2nd best team in the world, and moreover, within a whisker of first place? Well, they thashed top-placed India this summer, and moreover have now registered a good away win, albeit in just one game so far.  Meanwhile, Australia are struggling.  In truth, it's not clear who the best team in the world is right now.  England's surge maybe feels overdone, but it's actually an arguable positon, and a strong recovery from a rating of just 9 at the end of last winter's tours.  More matches to come in both these series; also, New Zealand will shortly be hosted by Pakistan in the U.A.E.