ICC relaunches Test Championship
The International Cricket Council has announced a relaunch of its Test Championship in the light of South Africa's elevation to top spot last year at a time Australia were universally regarded as the best side in the world
Wisden CricInfo staff
21-May-2003
The International Cricket Council has announced a relaunch of its Test Championship in the light of South Africa's elevation to top spot last year at a time Australia were universally regarded as the best side in the world.
Whereas the old calculations were based on simple series win/draw/loss points, the new Championship relies on a complex weighting system, and each Test will count rather than just the series result.
"The original ICC Test Championship was launched in May 2001 and we stated at the time that we would monitor its application," Malcolm Speed, president of the ICC told reporters at Lord's for the relaunch. "That process has now been completed and the revised points system provides a fair reflection of the achievements of all ten full members."
England's two-match npower series with Zimbabwe is the first to count towards the re-launched Championship. England need to win the series 2-0 to improve their rating, while a 1-0 win will keep them unchanged on 97 while a draw will cause them to fall to 95.
If England lose 2-0 they will narrowly hold on to fifth place in the table. That outcome would give Zimbabwe's rating a massive boost to 67, and even a drawn series would extend their lead over Bangladesh by four points.
The ICC Test Championship table, 21st May 2003
| Position (prev pos in brackets) |
Team | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (1) | Australia | 129 |
| 2 (2) | South Africa | 115 |
| 3 (3) | New Zealand | 103 |
| 4 (4) | Sri Lanka | 101 |
| 5 (5) | England | 97 |
| 6 (6) | India | 91 |
| 7 (8) | Pakistan | 91 |
| 8 (7) | West Indies | 79 |
| 9 (9) | Zimbabwe | 59 |
| 10 (10) | Bangladesh | 4 |
Explanation of the ICC Test Championship
The new ICC Test Championship takes into account the result of every individual Test Match with a bonus awarded for winning a series. It also recognises the strength of the opposition in calculating the points awarded.
The system means that there are no longer any `dead rubber' Test Matches and that in any series both teams have the opportunity to improve or worsen their rating.
The ICC Test Championship reflects performances in all Tests completed since a given date (currently 1st August 1999), in contrast to the previous system which included some series played in 1996/97 yet excluded some more recent series. More recent matches have a stronger weighting and the rankings are refreshed every August.
A rating of 100 reflects average performance, so a team winning and losing a similar number of matches and playing a broad mix of opponents will have a rating close to 100.
For the up-to-date ICC Test Championship table plus full scenarios for forthcoming series and details of the formula for calculating ratings visit the official ICC website www.icc.cricket.org.