Pakistan and England bid for second place in ICC Test rankings
England is currently sitting in third place on 102 points, one point ahead of Pakistan with Australia occupying second position on 106 points. This means the side that wins the series in the UAE by 2-0 or better, it will jump to second position.
In 22 Test series to date, England has won nine and Pakistan seven, with the remaining six ending in draws. However, Pakistan won the last series by a 3-0 margin when the two sides met in the UAE in 2011-12.
The following are the permutations for the forthcoming Pakistan versus England series:
Pakistan 4th (101 pts) v England 3rd (102 pts). Australia 2nd (106)
· If Pak wins 3-0, then Pak 108 pts, Eng 97 pts
· If Pak wins 2-1, then Pak 105 pts, Eng 100 pts
· If Pak wins 2-0, then Pak 106 pts, Eng 99 pts (Pak ahead of Aus by a fraction of a point)
· If Eng wins 3-0, then Pak 94 pts, Eng 107 pts
· If Eng wins 2-1, then Pak 97 pts, Eng 105 pts
· If Eng wins 2-0, then Pak 96 pts, Eng 106 pts (Eng ahead of Aus by a fraction of a point)
· If the series is drawn 1-1, both sides retain pre-series rankings/points
Meanwhile, seventh-placed Sri Lanka will host eighth-placed West Indies in a two-Test series on Wednesday, with Jason Holder’s men aiming to leapfrog Angelo Mathews’ side in the team rankings. A clean sweep by the men from the Caribbean would see them move to 87 points, while in the event of that series result Sri Lanka would drop to 84 points. In all other scenarios, Sri Lanka would maintain an advantage.
ICC Test Player Rankings
England’s Joe Root, meanwhile, is the highest-ranked batsman from either in third position. The 24-year-old batsman will be aiming to reclaim the number-one ranking in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen from Australia captain Steven Smith as only 21 points separate the two batsmen. Strong performances in the series will potentially see Root return to the top of the summit since August when he first claimed the number-one spot after the fourth Test against Australia in Trent Bridge.
Root is joined in the top 10 by sixth-ranked Younus Khan, who needs 19 runs to become Pakistan’s leading run-getter in Tests. He currently sits third in the list of all-time run-makers for Pakistan behind Javed Miandad (8,832) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (8,829).
Just a single point separates rival captains Misbah-ul-Haq (13th) and Alastair Cook (14th), while Sarfraz Ahmed and Azhar Ali (tied for 16th) and Asad Shafiq (19th) other batsmen inside the top 20.
The action is heating up in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, with second-ranked Stuart Broad aiming to reduce Dale Steyn’s commanding lead at the top.
Just three points separate fourth-placed Pakistan wrist-spinner Yasir Shah (who has claimed an impressive 61 wickets in 10 Test matches to date) and England’s all-time highest wicket-taker James Anderson (413 wickets to date).
Broad, Yasir and Anderson are separated by 28 points, which indicates there will be movements inside the top five.
The next highest-ranked bowler in the series on either side is Steven Finn (21st) who will be looking to move back into the top 20 after a positive end to the Ashes series where he claimed 12 wickets in the last three Tests of the series.
Broad, in fourth spot on 294 points, is the leading all-rounder on either side in the ICC Player Rankings for Test All-rounders heading into the three-match series.
Upcoming Test fixtures
Pakistan v England
13-17 Oct – 1st Test, Abu Dhabi
22-26 Oct – 2nd Test, Dubai
1-5 Nov – 3rd Test, Sharjah
Sri Lanka v West Indies
14-18 Oct – 1st Test, Galle
22-26 Oct – 2nd Test, Colombo (PSS)
ICC Test Team Rankings (as on 11 October, ahead of Pakistan-England and Sri Lanka-West Indies Test series)
Rank Team Points
1 South Africa 125
2 Australia 106
3 England 102
4 Pakistan 101
5 India 100
6 New Zealand 99
7 Sri Lanka 89
8 West Indies 81
9 Bangladesh 47
10 Zimbabwe 5
(Developed by David Kendix)
ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 11 October, ahead of Pakistan-England and Sri Lanka-West Indies Test series)
Batsmen
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 Steven Smith Aus 910 56.27 936 v Eng at Lord's 2015
2 AB de Villiers SA 890 52.09 935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014
3 Joe Root Eng 889 54.66 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
4 Hashim Amla SA 881 52.48 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
5 A. Mathews SL 870 52.06 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014
6 Younus Khan Pak 829 54.07 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
7 K. Williamson NZ 813 45.70 860 v Eng at Lord's 2015
8 David Warner Aus 775 46.78 880 v Ind at Adelaide 2014
9 Chris Rogers Aus 761 42.87 793 v Eng at Lord's 2015
10 S.Chanderpaul WI 735 51.37 901 v NZ at Napier 2008
Selected Rankings
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
13 Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 719 48.19 842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014
14 Alastair Cook Eng 718 46.41 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
16= Sarfraz Ahmed Pak 711* 50.30 715 v SL at Galle 2015
Azhar Ali Pak 711 44.06 753 v SL at Pallekele 2012
19 Asad Shafiq Pak 697 42.05 746 v SL at Galle 2015
27 Marlon Samuels WI 623 35.92 672 v Zim at Barbados 2013
28 D. Chandimal SL 603* 44.09 646 v Ind at Galle 2015
29 Darren Bravo WI 591 41.22 709 v Aus at Trinidad 2012
31 Ian Bell Eng 580 43.00 822 v Ind at The Oval 2011
33 M. Hafeez Pak 563 39.07 609 v Ban at Khulna 2015
36 Kaushal Silva SL 551 33.04 638 v Pak at Colombo (PSS) 2015
37 J. Blackwood WI 540* 41.26 575 v Eng at Barbados 2015
38 D. Karunaratne SL 536 32.58 596 v Pak at Pallekele 2015
43 Ben Stokes Eng 523* 31.57 594 v Aus at Lord's 2015
44 Ahmed Shehzad Pak 522* 43.05 555 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2015
45 K. Brathwaite WI 520 33.85 591 v Eng at Grenada 2015
46 Moeen Ali Eng 517*! 31.20 517 v Aus at The Oval 2015
Bowlers
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 Dale Steyn SA 905 22.48 909 v WI at Centurion 2014
2 Stuart Broad Eng 835 29.16 852 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
3 Trent Boult NZ 814 27.12 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015
4 Yasir Shah Pak 810*! 24.81 810 v SL at Pallekele 2015
5 James Anderson Eng 807 29.38 847 v WI at Barbados 2015
6 M. Johnson Aus 773 27.94 849 v Pak at Dubai 2014
7 V. Philander SA 770 22.13 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013
8 R. Ashwin Ind 760 28.44 808 v WI at Mumbai 2013
9 Rangana Herath SL 716 30.21 851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014
10 Tim Southee NZ 713 31.63 799 v WI at Jamaica 2014
Selected Rankings
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
13 Kemar Roach WI 669 27.83 774 v SA at Centurion 2014
21 Steven Finn Eng 576 28.58 624 v NZ at Headingley 2013
22 D. Prasad SL 567*! 38.78 567 v Ind at Colombo (SSC) 2015
23 Junaid Khan Pak 551* 31.73 652 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014
24 Jerome Taylor WI 530* 33.45 717 v Eng at Jamaica 2009
28 Dilruwan Perera SL 491* 30.90 531 v Pak at Galle 2014
30 Moeen Ali Eng 457* 36.04 480 v Aus at Cardiff 2015
31 S. Eranga SL 450* 34.86 541 v Eng at Headingley 2014
33 Zulfiqar Babar Pak 439* 37.40 501 v NZ at Dubai 2014
35 M. Hafeez Pak 428* 33.90 432 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2015
40 Rahat Ali Pak 399*! 35.91 399 v SL at Pallekele 2015
41 Ben Stokes Eng 390*! 40.55 390 v Aus at The Oval 2015
43 D. Bishoo WI 381* 37.42 426 v Ind at Delhi 2011
46 Wahab Riaz Pak 371* 32.05 389 v SL at Galle 2015
47 C. Welegedara SL 367* 41.32 492 v SA at Durban 2011
48 Ajantha Mendis SL 364* 34.77 572 v Ban at Chittagong 2009
50 Suranga Lakmal SL 339* 49.56 363 v NZ at Wellington 2015
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points HS Rating
1 S. Al Hasan Ban 384 419 v Zim at Khulna 2014
2 R. Ashwin Ind 347 419 v WI at Mumbai 2013
3 V. Philander SA 337*/ 376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014
4 Stuart Broad Eng 294 382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012
5 M. Johnson Aus 263 384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
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