New Zealand can pass South Africa in LG ICC Test Championship with series win over Sri Lanka

New Zealand begins a two-Test series against Sri Lanka on Thursday knowing that a 2-0 victory will move it up two places to joint-fifth in the LG ICC Test Championship.

Currently, the Black Caps are seventh on the list, just two ratings points behind South Africa and 11 points behind Sri Lanka.

Victory in both Tests, the first of which is in Christchurch, will see the home side leap-frog the Proteas and draw level with Mahela Jayawardene's team on 98 ratings points.

Should New Zealand win the series by just one match, it will still overtake Graeme Smith's side although South Africa could return the compliment if it is successful in its upcoming series against India.

A drawn series in New Zealand would still earn the Black Caps one rating point while the Lankans would lose one. If Sri Lanka wins 2-0 it will move up to 107 ratings points.

Meanwhile, Jayawardene has just moved back into the top ten of the LG ICC Test Player Rankings as Australia opener Matthew Hayden has slipped down, and he will be determined to build on that momentum in this series.

The schedule for the New Zealand - Sri Lanka Test series is as follows:

7-11 December - first Test, Christchurch 15-19 December - second Test, Wellington

Full details of the current LG ICC Test Championship and how future results will impact on the table, as well as the LG ICC Player Rankings can be found on the ICC website.

Listings of the all-time rankings can be found here.