England captain keeps selection doors open ahead of T20 World Cup
The English summer begins with the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy on Saturday, giving domestic players the chance to play themselves into the plans for the T20 World Cup squad.
In a recent development, Australia have moved to the top of the ICC Test and T20I rankings for men while England continue to be at the pinnacle of the ICC men’s ODI rankings after the annual update on Friday that eliminates results from 2016-17 cricketing calendar.
The latest update rates all matches since May 2019 at 100 per cent and those played in the two years preceding that at 50 per cent, Australia (116) have dethroned India from the top of the ICC Rankings. New Zealand (115) have bagged the second position while India stand third with as many as 114 points.
Only two points separate the top three teams in the rankings. This is the second closest that the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were introduced in 2003. The minimum margin between the top three teams was in January 2016 when India edged Australia and South Africa by a point to be at the top of the Test Rankings.
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India are no longer the number 1 ranked Test team for the first time since October 2016 largely because they had a brilliant run in 2016-17, the results of which no longer influence the current rankings.
South Africa lost eight points and now stand below Sri Lanka at the sixth place.
India still lead at the ICC World Test Championship tally despite a 0-2 result against New Zealand earlier this year.
As far as the ICC ODI team rankings are concerned, reigning World champions England (127) lead India by eight points. New Zealand remain in the third position, trailing India by three points.
In the ICC Men’s T20I team rankings, Australia are at the top of the list for the first time since the introduction of rankings in 2011. Meanwhile, Pakistan are now number four on the table. While England find themselves at number two (268 points), India are one place up to third position, two points behind England.
Afghanistan are down from seventh to the tenth position.
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