Australia have just completed a 2-0 drubbing of the West Indies; perhaps more remarkable is England's acheivement, winning a second consecutive test in Pakistan. It moves them into a very strong third place in my world ratings, not far behind the top two:
After a few months off, test cricket is back. Australia have thumped their latest visitors (the West Indies), while England have won a test in Pakistan in spite of a very flat wicket, thanks mostly due to an extraordinarily aggressive approach to batting. This attitude brought the team several wins while chasing over the summer at home, but to force a win batting first in Pakistan is arguably a greater achievement. In my world ratings, Australia's win is enough to put them into first place, a postion they already held in the official world ratings:
After losing their first game against South Africa by an innings, England have retaliated with an even more emphatic victory of their own. The finale is eagerly awaited, athough based on the first two games, it may be over rather quickly. Although South Africa began with the higher rating, home advantage made England favourites at the start of the series: their win thus recovers most, but not all of the ground lost in their prior defeat:.
Following a dreadful run, England came back fighting this summer, winning 4 games in a row from what seemed like lost positions with some marvellous counter-attacking cricket. But their latest series against South Africa has begun with a hefty dose of reality, as the team crumbled in 3 days against their visitors' mighty seam attack.
Sri Lanka have recently played 2 short series at home, against first Australia and then Pakistan; and in both cases, they responded to defeat in their first test by winning their second. The victory over Pakistan has exactly undone the effect of their previous defeat in my rankings, returning both teams to exactly where they were before either match. Another way of putting this is that Pakistan's prior lead of 49 points almost exactly offset their disadvantage of playing away: a drawn series was the expected result.
Sri Lanka have just won a great victory over Australia, and now they entertain Pakistan; but the visitors finished their first test strongly to grab the win. My world ratings now look like this:
