South Africa puts its
number-one Test
ranking on the line as
it takes on England
South Africa will gain five
points to rise to 119 points if
it wins 4-0, but when the
series result is reserved, then
it will drop to as low as fifth
with England returning into
the top four.
Five-way fight between
Williamson, Root, de Villiers,
Smith and Warner to finish
2015 as the top-ranked
batsman
Steyn aims to end another
year as world’s highest-ranked
Test bowler
South Africa will face its stiffest
challenge in defence of its
status as the number-one
ranked Test side in the world
when it goes heads to head
with England in a four-Test
series starting in Durban on
Saturday.
South Africa leads sixth-ranked
England by 15 points and this
difference means it is expected
to win the series comfortably.
However, its failure to win the
series will mean it will drop
from the top pedestal for the
first time since July 2014.
South Africa will gain five points
to rise to 119 points if it wins
4-0, but when the series result
is reserved, then it will drop to
as low as fifth with England
returning into the top four.
To guarantee number-one Test
spot at the annual 1 April cut-off
date, irrespective of how the
Australia-West Indies and
Australia-New Zealand series
pan out, Hashim Amla’s side
needs to win the series against
Alastair Cook’s side.
The following are the South
Africa-England series
permutations:
If SA wins 4-0 – SA 119 pts
(1 ); Eng 95 pts (6 )
If SA wins 3-0 – SA 118 pts
(1 ); Eng 96 pts (6 )
If SA wins 2-0 or 3-1 – SA 116
pts (1 ); Eng 97 pts (6 )
If SA wins 1-0 or 2-1 – SA 115
pts (1 ); Eng 98 pts (6 )
If Eng wins 1-0 or 2-1 – SA 109
pts (3 ); Eng 102 pts (5 )
If Eng wins 2-0 or 3-1 – SA 107
pts (3 ); Eng 104 pts (5 )
If Eng wins 3-0 – SA 106 pts
(4 ); Eng 105 pts (5 )
If Eng wins 4-0 – SA 105 pts
(5 ); Eng 106 pts (4 )
If Aus beats WI 3-0 – Aus 111
pts; WI pts 74 (8 )
Meanwhile, the fight for who
finishes the year as the number-
one ranked batsman in the ICC
Player Rankings for Test
Batsman has come down to the
wire as only 26 points separate
top-ranked Kane Williamson
from fifth-ranked David Warner.
While Williamson will be
involved in the limited-overs
series against Sri Lanka, second-
ranked Joe Root, third-ranked
AB de Villiers, fourth-ranked
Steve Smith and fifth-ranked
Warner will be aiming to
perform strongly in the Boxing
Day Tests so that they can finish
2015 in top spot.
Other South Africa and England
batsmen likely to appear in the
Durban Test and hoping for
upward movements include
Amla (seventh), Cook (ninth), Faf
du Plessis (26 ), Gary Ballance
(36 ), Dean Elgar (40 ), JP
Duminy (45 ), Ben Stokes
(48 ) and Moeen Ali, who
shares 50 spot with
Australia’s Usman Khawaja.
In the ICC Player Rankings for
Test Bowlers, South Africa’s Dale
Steyn will be under pressure to
perform strongly in Durban,
otherwise he’ll drop from the
top spot for the first time since
February 2014.
Steyn first achieved the number-
one ranking in July 2009 and
has finished as the top-ranked
bowler each year except in
2013, when Vernon Philander
leapfrogged him in December
and occupied the coveted
position for 56 days.
Steyn’s failure to shine with the
ball will hand the number-one
ranking to India’s Ravichandran
Ashwin. Ashwin is on a career-
high 871 points, just four
points behind Steyn.
England’s James Anderson is in
third position, 29 points behind,
while his team-mate Stuart
Broad is in fifth position. Like
the batsmen, the top five
bowlers are separated by 35
points.
