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