The year in test cricket has ended with two home victories: for Australia against Pakistan (they now lead the series 2-0), and, more one-sidedly (and surprisingly so), for South Africa against India. My cricket world ratings now look like this:
After a long interval featuring the 50-over World Cup (won by Australia) test match cricket has resumed. Bangldesh won a rare test at home to New Zealand, before the visitors squared the series; and Australia have just followed on from their one-day success by walloping their visitors Pakistan in the first test of this series. My cricket world ratings now look like this:
The official ratings don't yet include results from Australia, but have shifted as follows:
The official ratings look similar, only differing in the relative placement of India compared to England and Australia. Their latest update also takes into account Bangladesh's win over Afghanistan earlier in the summer for the first time:
Before the Ashes, 15 of the previous 16 tests has ended in a victory; and only 2 of those had been won by a margin on less than 80 runs or 6 wickets. Granted, one of the exceptions was New Zealand's record breaking 1-run victory over England; but the basic fact is that a lot of test match cricket is pretty one sided. But England and Australia have now played three really close, pulsating test matches; and England's victory in game three, following two narrow defeats, keeps the series alive. My world ratings now look like this:
The next match in this thrilling (though often tactically perplexing) series starts on the 19th July.
This year's Ashes series has begun with two extraordinary matches; but also with two wins for the visting Australians, who are now already very close to retaining the trophy. Once again, much of the focus in the 2nd test was on England's unorthodox play, which has swept all before it over the past year. But no-one should forget that this Australian team, which won the world title before this series, is a very strong side. My world ratings now look like this:
Bangladesh have recently stuffed Afghanistan; but perhaps more cricket followers would have been paying attention to the first of five matches in the sport's oldest rivalry, as Australia, recently crowned world test champions, begin a tour of England. The home side has recently been rejuvenated through adopting an unusually aggressive approach, and the first match began with the English managing to score at over five runs an over for most of the first day, before unexpectedly declaring. But the game ended with an ending that was an old school classic: deep into the last hour, all four results were still possible. In the end, Australian captain Pat Cummins steered his side home, and put them into pole position for what might prove to be a great series.
In addition to accomodating these latest results below, there's also a slight adjustment to the ratings I published previously, which mistakenly been based on assigning Australia home advantage for the world test championship which, of course, was played on neutral territory. This correction retrospectively gains Australia (and costs India) another five points before considering the recent games.
The idea of the world test championship is that results over a two year period are used to determine the two best test match playing teams; and then they play off in a one-off game. Of course, it isn't my ratings which are used to select the finalists, but in both events played to date, the two teams selected were my top two; and on both occasions one team was India, who have however lost each time. A one-off match in English conditions isn't the easiest challenge for the Indians; this time, the victors were Australia, who will now go on to defend the Ashes against an English side who, in my ratings, have now overtaken India following this defeat. My ratings thus look like this:
The last time Irleand played England at Lords they very nearly grabbed a sensatonal win, before collapsing in their final innings. This time, they were walloped in the opening stages, and a spirited fightback couldn't prevent yet another defeat. It's tough, trying to make it as a new team in test cricket; and so far, Ireland have had little in the way of encouragement from their results. My world ratings are based on comparing actual results to those expected from past form, and Ireland's defeat, heavily predicted, thus has had almost no effect on the table:
There is an update in the offical ratings to report as well,not based on this result, but a result of the way those ratings have fixed time periods built in, leading to periodic alterations. This one acually makes the two lists less consistent, promoting India above Australia at the top of the list, although giving belated credit to England for their strong recent results.
Ireland scored nearly 700 runs in their second test against Sri Lanka; and still lost by over an innings. Their closest game in their brief test history was their only game against England, who they dismissed for under 100 but still lost to after being bowled out in their second innings for less than 40. They get another go in June when the two teams meet again. Meanwhile, their rating is so low that a defeat is pretty much the expected result each time they play any reasonably good team (especially when away from home): their latest one barely alters their score:
After a long time without any test cricket, Ireland are in the middle of a sequence of three scheduled matches. So far it hasn't gone too well for them, with big defeats against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. My world ratings now look like this (not much altered, because the result was highly predicted):
Since Ireland were granted test status, they haven't had the chance to play many games - in fact, priort to this year, they'd only played three, all ending in defeat. But they've just played in Bangladesh (and lost), and have two games in Sri Lanka to follow. At some point, they will manage to win one, but for the moment, they continue to prop up my world ratings from the bottom:
New Zealand have just won the second test against Sri Lanka, completing a 2-0 series win. My world rankings now look like this:
The offical ratings have changed similarly, although with characteristic asymmetry:
