Third-placed England go into the series with 105 points on the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings table, enjoying an eight-point lead over Australia, who will look to maximize their home advantage and move up from fifth position.
Australia will overtake England if they win by a margin of 2-0 or better and could even go up to third position if they can complete a 5-0 series washout. In the event of being blanked out, England will slip down to 98 points.
On the other hand, England will go up to 110 points with a 5-0 win, in which case Australia will slip to 91 points and could be down to sixth position. India, who are currently engaged in a three-Test home series with Sri Lanka, lead the table with 125 points while South Africa are in second place with 111 points.
Series scenarios:
· Australia win 5-0 – Australia 106 (+9), England 98 (-7)
· Australia win 4-0 – Australia 104 (+7), England 99 (-6)
· Australia win 4-1 or 3-0 – Australia 103 (+6), England 100 (-5)
· Australia win 3-1 or 2-0 – Australia 102 (+5), England 101 (-4)
· Australia win 3-2, 2-1 or 1-0 – England 102 (-3), Australia 101 (+4)
· Drawn series – England 104 (-1), Australia 97 (no change)
· England win 5-0 – England 110 (+5), Australia 91 (-6)
· England win 4-0 – England 109 (+4), Australia 92 (-5)
· England win 4-1 or 3-0 – England 108 (+3), Australia 93 (-4)
· England win 3-2, 2-1 or 1-0 – England 106 (+1), Australia 96 (-1)
· England win 3-1 or 2-0 (England 107 (+2), Australia 94 (-3)
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In the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings, Australia captain Steve Smith leads the table for batsmen with his counterpart Joe Root in second position but a good 47 points behind.
Australia’s left-handed batsman David Warner is another player in the top-10, in sixth position. Outside the top 20, Peter Handscomb is at a career-best 26th position and would be looking to further advance in the rankings.
Australia also boast Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon in sixth and seventh positions, respectively, among bowlers, while Mitchell Starc is in 13th position and would be looking to find his way into the top 10.
For England, former captain Alastair Cook will be hoping to repeat his 2010-11 Ashes form, when he scored 766 runs. He is presently ranked 10th while Jonny Bairstow is ranked 15th.
England’s bowling is led by top-ranked James Anderson, who enjoys a 20-point lead over South Africa pace bowler Kagiso Rabada. He is presently on 896 points and in with a chance to become only the seventh England bowler to touch the 900-point mark. Stuart Broad is ranked 10th.
Meanwhile, India captain Virat Kohli has edged Warner to take fifth position after completing his 50th international century in the first match of a three-Test series against Sri Lanka in Kolkata, which ended in a draw on Tuesday. Kohli, who is top-ranked in both ODIs and T20Is, knocked up a fine 104 not out on the last day of the match.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan has gained two places to reach 28th position while among India’s bowlers, pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar has gained eight places to reach a career-best 29th position and Mohammad Shami has moved up one slot to 18th position.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who started the Sri Lanka series with the opportunity to reclaim the top bowling and all-rounder rankings, could not work towards the objective in Kolkata as all Sri Lanka batsmen fell to pace bowlers. Jadeja has slipped to third position among bowlers and also lost 20 points in the rankings for all-rounders, but still has a lot to look forward to in the remaining matches.
For Sri Lanka, Niroshan Dickwella has gained three slots to reach 37th position among batsmen while off-spinner Dilruwan Perera has moved up three places to reach 22nd position among bowlers.
Series schedule:
23-27 November – 1st Test, Brisbane
2-6 December – 2nd Test, Adelaide
14-18 December – 3rd Test, Perth
26-30 December – 4th Test, Melbourne
4-8 January – 5th Test, Sydney
MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings (as of 21 November 2017, before The Ashes)
Rank Team Points
1 India 125
2 South Africa 111
3 England 105
4 New Zealand 97
5 Australia 97
6 Sri Lanka 94
7 Pakistan 88
8 Windies 75
9 Bangladesh 72
10 Zimbabwe 02
MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 21 November, after the first Test between India and Sri Lanka in Kolkata and before The Ashes):
Batsmen (top 20)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
1 ( - ) Steve Smith Aus 936 59.66 941 v Ind at Dharamsala 2017
2 ( - ) Joe Root Eng 889 53.76 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
3 ( - ) K. Williamson NZ 880 51.16 893 v Aus at Perth 2015
4 ( - ) C. Pujara Ind 866 52.26 888 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017
5 (+1) Virat Kohli Ind 817 50.12 895 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017
6 (-1) David Warner Aus 807 47.94 880 v NZ at Perth 2015
7 ( - ) Hashim Amla SA 795 49.87 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
8 ( - ) Lokesh Rahul Ind 757* 45.83 761 v SL at Pallekele 2017
9 (+1) Azhar Ali Pak 755 46.62 787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016
10 (+1) Alastair Cook Eng 738 46.33 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
11 (+1) Dean Elgar SA 732 42.30 740 v NZ at Dunedin 2017
12 (+1) Q. de Kock SA 724 44.40 802 v NZ at Hamilton 2017
13= (+1) Faf du Plessis SA 718! 46.54 718 v Ban at Bloemfontein 2017
14 (-4) A. Rahane Ind 718 46.11 825 v NZ at Indore 2016
15 ( - ) J. Bairstow Eng 710 39.77 772 v SA at Old Trafford 2017
16 ( - ) Ross Taylor NZ 705 47.10 871 v Win at Hamilton 2013
17 ( - ) D. Karunaratne SL 667 36.10 700 v Pak at Dubai 2017
18 ( - ) Ben Stokes Eng 664! 35.72 664 v Win at Lord's 2017
19 ( - ) U. Khawaja Aus 661 45.47 747 v Pak at Sydney 2017
20 (+1) K. Brathwaite Win 657 36.74 701 v Eng at Headingley 2017
Bowlers (top 20)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
1 ( - ) J. Anderson Eng 896! 27.39 896 v Win at Lord's 2017
2 (+1) Kagiso Rabada SA 876! 22.71 876 v Ban at Bloemfontein 2017
3 (-1) R. Jadeja Ind 868 23.65 899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017
4 ( - ) R. Ashwin Ind 840 25.30 904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016
5 ( - ) R. Herath SL 820 27.91 867 v Zim at Harare 2016
6 ( - ) J. Hazlewood Aus 794 25.75 863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017
7 ( - ) Nathan Lyon Aus 752! 31.83 752 v Ban at Chittagong 2017
8 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 748 22.30 909 v Win at Centurion 2014
9 ( - ) Neil Wagner NZ 745 28.90 767 v SA at Dunedin 2017
10 ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 737 28.81 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
11 ( - ) V. Philander SA 736 22.45 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013
12 ( - ) Trent Boult NZ 732 28.75 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015
13 ( - ) Mitchell Starc Aus 727 28.35 805 v Pak at Brisbane 2016
14 ( - ) Morne Morkel SA 722 28.85 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
15 ( - ) Yasir Shah Pak 704 29.44 878 v Eng at Lord's 2016
16 ( - ) Tim Southee NZ 687 31.55 799 v Win at Jamaica 2014
17 ( - ) S. Al Hasan Ban 668 32.35 705 v Aus at Mirpur 2017
18 (+1) M. Shami Ind 647*! 30.31 647 v SL at Kolkata 2017
19 (-1) K. Maharaj SA 638* 26.33 644 v Ban at Potchefstroom 2017
20 ( - ) S. Gabriel Win 610* 34.00 636 v Eng at Headingley 2017
All-rounders (top five)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Highest Rating
1 ( - ) S. Al Hasan Ban 438 489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017
2 ( - ) R. Jadeja Ind 409 438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017
3 (+1) Ben Stokes Eng 396/*! 396 v Win at Lord's 2017
4 (-1) R. Ashwin Ind 395 493 v Eng at Mohali 2016
5 ( - ) Moeen Ali Eng 378 409 v SA at Old Trafford 2017
*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.
! indicates career-highest rating
