AUSTRALIA REMAIN AT THE TOP IN MEN’S TEST AND WOMEN’S ODI RANKINGS AFTER ANNUAL UPDATE 

Australia have maintained a commanding lead in both the ICC Men’s Test Team Rankings and the ICC Women’s ODI Team Rankings following the annual updates carried out on Friday.

The latest rankings, which rate all matches played since May 2025 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, see Australia keep a 12-point lead over South Africa in the Men’s Test Rankings and are 35 points ahead of England in the Women’s ODIs table.

The Men’s Test Rankings see Australia and South Africa retain their top two positions after gaining three rating points each and sit at 131 and 119 points while England (102) have dropped behind India (104) to fourth position after losing seven rating points. New Zealand are just a point behind England in fifth place.

England slipped largely due to the dropping of home series wins against New Zealand and South Africa, as well as a 3-0 series win in Pakistan, all of which were in the period ending 30 April 2023 that are no longer included in the calculations.

In another significant movement, Pakistan (89) have overtaken Sri Lanka (86) to sixth position. Their rise is largely due to the dropping of that 3-0 home series defeat to England and halving the weight assigned to their 2-0 defeat to Bangladesh in 2024.

Ireland have dropped out of the rankings as they have not played the requisite eight matches in the rating period. Ireland and Afghanistan each need to play two further Tests in the next year to be included.

The Women’s ODI Rankings see the top six places unchanged. Australia’s lead has fallen by four rating points, but they are still at an impressive rating of 163. England have increased their lead over India from one to four points and are on 128. India (124), South Africa (100), New Zealand (93) and Sri Lanka (89) are the other teams to retain their positions.

Sri Lanka have gained six points after the update, reducing the gap with New Zealand from 13 to four while Bangladesh have overtaken Pakistan to reach seventh position.

Thailand and the Netherlands drop out of the table for now as they haven’t played the requisite eight ODIs in the past three years. Thailand need to play one more ODI and the Netherlands two more in order to regain their rankings.

The ICC Men’s and Women’s T20I Team Rankings update will be announced on 5 May, and the Men’s ODI Team Rankings update on 7 May.

DEVELOPED BY DAVID KENDIX

DEVELOPED BY DAVID KENDIX