Cricket World Ratings 31st December 2018

Three games of test cricket begun on Boxing Day.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, South Africa beat their visitors Pakistan, and New Zealand beat their guests Sri Lanka.  Neither Pakistan nor Sri Lanka have been in the greatest form recently, and Sri Lanka managed to lose by an almost preposterous margin of 423 runs, in spite of dismissing New Zealand fairly cheaply in the first innings, leading to their 0-1 defeat in a two test series.  Most interesting was India's away win in Australia, as the side recovered from losing the 2nd test to take a 2-1 lead in the series.  Teams from the Indian subcontinent often struggle away from home, and India, following a string of great performances mostly on home territory, have lost this year in both South Africa and England.  It's a tough ask to also tour Australia within such a short timescale.  But Australia have problems of their own, ever since they sacked (and banned) their captain Steve Smith for an embarrassing ball-tampering episode. They still have work to do to avoid a home defeat.  My current cricket world ratings now look like this:

England       221    
India         205 +23  
South Africa  187 +12  
New Zealand   141 +14
Australia     107 -23
Pakistan      100 -12  
Sri Lanka      82 -14  
West Indies   -46   
Bangladesh    -73   
Zimbabwe     -252    
Ireland      -320    
Afghanistan  -352

It's interesting at the year's end to compare the ratings to where they were last year.  I've adjusted my methodology this year, and in addition, the entry of Afghanistan and Ireland to test cricket gave everbody else's ratings a boost by 67 points, but after making adjustments, the comparable numbersat the end of 2017 were these:

India         256  
Australia     189  
South Africa  180  
New Zealand   131   
Sri Lanka     111   
England       100   
Pakistan       54   
West Indies   -13   
Bangladesh    -60   
Zimbabwe     -280

It's been a good year for England, who after a poor start beat India at home and Sri Lanka away.   As we have noted, India have had some tough series and have slipped from the front. South Africa have been solid throughout the year; Australia, Sri Lanka and West Indies all appear to be going backwards; while Pakistan have actually moved upwards, albeit from a low base.

Meanwhile, the official ratings look broadly similar to mine, but rating India and New Zealand higher (at the expense of England and South Africa respectively):

India        116
England      108
New Zealand  107  +2
South Africa 106 
Australia    102 
Pakistan      92  
Sri Lanka     91  -2
West Indies   70  
Bangladesh    69   
Zimbabwe      13 

The series in Australia and South Africa will continue early in the new year.