Cricket World Ratings 15th June 2025

The idea of the World Test Championship is every two years to stage a one-off game between the two best teams in the world, on the basis of the results in the intervening period.  The method used to identify those teams is, somewhat strangely, not the record used in the official test team rankings.  However, the teams selected for this year's match were the world's official top two, and also the top two teams in my rankings.  All these criteria put Australia a long way ahead of South Africa, but in fact the underdogs managed to come from behind to win the game. The effect on my ratings is as follows:

1. Australia     266 -29 
2. South Africa  226 +29
3. England       171
4. India         167
5. New Zealand   148 
6. Sri Lanka      49 
7. Pakistan       12  
8. West Indies   -18  
   
9. Bangladesh   -115    
   
10. Ireland      -275   
    
11. Afghanistan  -306        
    
12. Zimbabwe     -324   
    

And the official rating (which unlike mine, can change with time even for teams that play no matches), now look like this:

1. Australia     123  -4  
2. South Africa  114  +2  
3. England       113  +8   
   
4. India         105  -4
5. New Zealand    95  -2    
6. Sri Lanka      87  +1   
7. Pakistan       78  -4  
8. West Indies    73  -3     
9. Bangladesh     62  +1        
10. Ireland        30  
    
11. Afghanistan    21  +2 
12. Zimbabwe       12   
    

So in spite of the result, both systems still assert that Australia are the top team. In fact, both systems now present an identical pecking order, albeit with differing margins. Shortly, Bangladesh will visit Sri Lanka, and India will begin a tour of England.