October 21, 2003
New Zealand deserve to be third
M J Manohar Rao and Srinivas Bhogle
It isn't easy to draw a Test series against India in India. The favourable series result against India therefore helps New Zealand gain 1.39 points in the Rediff Test Ratings. New Zealand (49.96) are now third, and most deservedly so.
Second-placed South Africa (59.36) are still well ahead; but fourth-placed England (43.81) will now find it hard to catch up with New Zealand.
India (37.91), who lost 1.48 points, are lucky to be still fifth. But it shouldn't be very long before Pakistan (36.57) claim the fifth place. Even a draw in the second Test against South Africa at Faisalabad will guarantee Pakistan the fifth place.
Australia (77.95) are now conquering the few peaks that still remain to be scaled in Test cricket. Defeating Zimbabwe (13.19) 2-2 was an easy matter. But the way they are playing, defeating India too should be equally easy.
Sri Lanka (36.29) and the West Indies (28.10) retain their seventh and eighth positions.
The current Rediff Test Rankings appear below in Table A.
| Country |
Performance index (RBI) |
Difference: 9.9.03 to 20.10.03 |
Rank |
| Australia |
77.95 |
-1.58 |
1 |
| South
Africa |
59.36 |
-0.01 |
2 |
| New
Zealand |
49.96 |
+1.39 |
3 |
| England |
43.81 |
-0.01 |
4 |
| India |
37.91 |
-1.48 |
5 |
| Pakistan |
36.57 |
-0.12 |
6 |
| Sri
Lanka |
36.29 |
-0.26 |
7 |
| West
Indies |
28.10 |
-0.11 |
8 |
| Zimbabwe |
13.19 |
-0.91 |
9 |
The corresponding ICC Test ratings are: Australia (130), South
Africa (116), New Zealand (104), England (104), India (95), Pakistan
(92), Sri Lanka (91), West Indies (83), Zimbabwe (57).
The ICC and Rediff rankings
continue to match perfectly, although the Rediff ratings rate New Zealand significantly higher than England because they recognize that New Zealand are now capable of playing away matches much better.
The current (as on Oct 20, 2003) home-away points tally of Test
playing teams is shown in Table B.
-- How the rankings work...
| TABLE B: Test
Score Card (as on Oct 20, 2003) |
|
A W A Y |
| Aus |
Eng |
Ind |
NZ |
Pak |
RSA |
SL |
WI |
Zim |
H
O
M
E |
Australia |
|
4 / 5
4 / 5
|
1 / 3
3 / 3
|
3 / 3
1.5 / 3
|
3 / 3
3 / 3
|
2 / 3
3 / 3
|
1 / 3
3 / 3 |
3 / 4
5 / 5
|
1 / 1
2 / 2 |
| England |
1 / 5
1 / 5
|
|
1 / 3
2 / 4
|
1.5 / 3
1.5 / 4
|
2 / 3
1 / 2
|
2 / 5
2.5 / 5
|
2 / 3
2.5 / 3 |
2 / 6
3.5 / 5
|
1 / 2
2 / 2
|
| India |
0 / 3
2 / 3
|
2 / 4
2 / 3 |
|
0 / 2
1 / 2
|
2 / 4
1 / 3
|
0.5 / 2
0 / 2
|
1 / 3
1.5 / 3
|
2 / 5
2.5 / 3 |
1 / 2
2 / 2
|
| New Zealand |
1.5 / 3
0 / 3
|
2.5 / 4
1.5 / 3
|
1 / 2
2 / 2
|
|
0 / 1
1.5 / 3
|
0.5 / 3
1 / 3
|
1 / 2
2 / 2
|
1.5 / 2
2 / 2
|
2 / 2
0.5 / 1
|
| Pakistan |
0 / 3
0 / 3
|
1 / 2
1 / 3
|
2 / 3
2 / 4 |
1.5 / 3
1 / 1
|
|
0 / 2
1 / 3
|
2.5 / 3
1 / 4
|
1 / 3
2 / 2
|
2 / 2
1 / 3
|
| South Africa |
0 / 3
1 / 3
|
2.5 / 5
3 / 5
|
2 / 2
1.5 / 2
|
2 / 3
2.5 / 3
|
2 / 3
2 / 2
|
|
1.5 / 3
2 / 2
|
3 / 5
5 / 5
|
1 / 1
2 / 2
|
| Sri Lanka |
0 / 3
2 / 3
|
0.5 / 3
1 / 3
|
1.5 / 3
2 / 3
|
0 / 2
1 / 2
|
3 / 4
0.5 / 3
|
0 / 2
1.5 / 3
|
|
0.5 / 2
3 / 3 |
2 / 3
3 / 3
|
| West Indies |
0 / 5
1 / 4
|
1.5 / 5
4 / 6
|
0.5 / 3
3 / 5
|
0 / 2
0.5 / 2 |
0 / 2
2 / 3
|
0 / 5
2 / 5
|
0 / 3
1.5 / 2
|
|
1.5 / 2
2 / 2 |
| Zimbabwe |
0 / 2
0 / 1
|
0 / 2
1 / 2
|
0 / 2
1 / 2
|
0.5 / 1
0 / 2
|
2 / 3
0 / 2
|
0 / 2
0 / 1
|
0 / 3
1 / 3
|
0 / 2
0.5 / 2
|
|
The
two-match Pakistan-South Africa Test series is going very much Pakistan's way. Unless Pakistan lose the second Test at Faisalabad (which, given Pakistan's swinging ups and downs, cannot be entirely ruled out), they look assured of claiming the fifth place.
Table C, below, looks at the likely scenarios in the Pakistan-South Africa series.
| TABLE C: PAKISTAN VS
SA: ALL POSSIBLE SCENARIOS |
| Points break-up (1
point for win, 0.5 for draw, 0 for loss) |
Pakistan's
new performance index (RBI) and (new ranking) |
South Africa's new performance index (RBI) and (new
ranking) |
| P: 1, SA:
1 |
37.42 (6) |
58.79
(2) |
| P: 1.5, SA:
0.5 |
38.65 (5) |
57.75
(2) |
| P: 2, SA:
0 |
39.78 (5) |
56.62
(2) |
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Design: Imran Shaikh