England win sets up Test table challenges

England's fighting comeback to tie their Test series with South Africa has added some spice to the southern-hemisphere season, starting with next month's New Zealand-India series. By winning the fifth Test, England moved to within two points of third-placed New Zealand on the ICC Test Championship rankings.

While New Zealand look to defend their position in India, England have a series with Bangladesh to contemplate. There's no prizes for guessing which side has the greater chance of picking up maximum points from those two series.

New Zealand face a formidable couple of Tests in India, especially in the absence of Shane Bond and Chris Cairns. The last series played between the two in India, resulted in India winning one Test and two games being drawn. The immediate aim for New Zealand would have to be to win at least one of the two Tests to hold off the English challenge.

However, if they are unable to do that, all may not be lost. The home series against Pakistan, and what is shaping up as an outstanding series against South Africa, offer New Zealand the chance to pick up some extra points to set up the perfect competition in England next summer.

England, on the other hand, also play Sri Lanka, and then travel to the West Indies before returning home for that series against New Zealand next May. India travel to Australia while West Indies will travel to Zimbabwe, then South Africa at Christmas-time for what is shaping as an epic contest in the rebuilding of West Indian confidence and performance.

South Africa conceded some points and dropped further behind Australia at the head of the table as a result of their defeat at The Oval. They have to negotiate a series with Pakistan before returning home to await the West Indian challenge.