No. 1 is for wimps

Has anyone not played the No. 1 side in the world recently? Every series seems to involve at least one No. 1, if not two. Only recently we've had Andy Flower saying Kevin Pietersen struggled in South Africa because he was playing "against the No. 1 side in the world", while Mohammad Yousuf said that Australia were "the best side" when asked if his opponents were No. 1.

Bizarrely, the only person who doesn't believe he's playing against the No. 1 side in the world is Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh. He says of top-ranked India: "They are ranked No. 1 recently, but I think South Africa and Australia are much better than them."

This actually makes a lot of sense. The average stint at the top of the Test rankings is currently about a fortnight. South Africa managed to fall from the top of the tree without even playing a match earlier this year and no side has been able to maintain their superiority for long. It's as if sides get lazy the instant they reach the pinnacle. Recent history suggests that few teams are more likely to lose than the one considered the best in the world.

You could argue that if a team is aiming to win a Test series, they should try and avoid being ranked No. 1 in the world. A lot of international coaches have cottoned onto this and have set their sights on second or third place instead.

"No. 2, No. 3 in the world - those are the sides who are hardest to beat," says a Sri Lankan administrator. "You pretty much expect to beat No. 1 every time. We've revised our targets for over the next few years and we're going to be going hell for leather to try and maintain a position of either two or three in the world."

But Sri Lanka can expect competition, with Australia, India and South Africa all vying for the coveted second and third spots. England may be a step ahead of all of them, however. A member of the back-room staff says that so many teams are competing to be number two or number three that effectively those positions have become number one.

"A few months ago, No. 2 was what we were aiming for, but it's become pretty common knowledge that No. 2 is the best position from which to win a Test series. This basically means that No. 2 is the new No. 1, with all the problems that position entails. I think these days you probably want to be ranked four or five in the world. Those are the positions from where you can spring a real surprise. I think it'll be a long time yet before four and five go the same way as one, two and three."

The mid-rankings are notoriously difficult to retain and we'll get a better idea which nation is best equipped to achieve their aims in the coming months. While many people are tipping West Indies, who have recently combined improved performance with a welcome lack of results, the smart money is on Pakistan, whose spurning of extra fielding practice may yet pay off.