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now that i’m back I can’t seem to think of anything to say :roll: :-k
Cricket-England close the gap in world rankings
By Tony Lawrence
Updated: 7:46 a.m. ET Sept. 14, 2005
LONDON – England’s cricketers have closed the gap on Australia at the top of the test rankings after their Ashes triumph but the world champions look unlikely to be toppled in the near future.Australia’s rating fell from 133 to 127 while England’s rose from 114 to 119 after their 2-1 series win.
It would take a 3-0 England win in Pakistan, however, coupled with an Australian home defeat against eighth-ranked West Indies for Michael Vaughan’s side to go top.
England head for Pakistan in November for three tests and five one-day internationals. Australia host West Indies for three tests over the same period.
An ICC press release said that if England and Australia both continued performing against the other test countries, the next series between the sides in 2006-07 could decide not only the Ashes but also which side leads the test championship.
England now has the highest rating of any side other than Australia since a new system of calculation for the table was introduced in June 2003.
England all rounder Andrew Flintoff, meanwhile, has climbed to joint seventh place in the bowling rankings and he is also at his career-best batting ranking of 23rd.
In the last 20 years, only Jacques Kallis of South Africa has achieved a better combined ranking than Flintoff. Flintoff took 24 wickets at 27.29 and scored 402 runs at 40.20 in the five-match series against Australia.
Kallis tops the batting chart ahead of Brian Lara and Rahul Dravid.
Kevin Pietersen is one place behind Flintoff in the batting table after scoring 473 runs at an average of 52.55 in his first test series, including a series-deciding 158 in the final test at The Oval.
An ICC statement said: “It is extremely rare for a batsman to reach the world top 25 after just five test matches.”
Several other England players rose up the rankings, while Australia batsman Damien Martyn — series average of 19.77 — moved in the other direction, dropping 10 places to 16th, while Adam Gilchrist dropped seven to 14th.
Shane Warne’s extraordinary 40 wickets at 19.92 apiece lifted him two places to third, one behind Muttiah Muralitharan. Glenn McGrath, despite missing two Ashes tests with injury, retained top place in the bowling.
Test rankings: Australia 127, England 119, India 111, South Africa 100, New Zealand 100, Sri Lanka 98, Pakistan 95, West Indies 74, Zimbabwe 28, Bangladesh 6.
@soulie wrote:
@poshy wrote:
@soulie wrote:
great game, its all over.. are england now number 1 in the world?
Promised to post this from my favourite Aussie Ragdoll :lol:
No you are not number 1 in the world, if/when you can dominate for as long as we have been you can start claiming that you are number 1, until then the top spot will continue to be ours. 1 ashes win (no matter how classy you were, which i admit you were indeed) does’nt automatically make you number 1. :wink:
He’s right of course :roll: – but England have closed the gap :P :wink:
i think we have the upper hand, as our team is young, as opposed to the aussies.. shane warne, is still a class act, but there will be a time he has to give up.. and that is soon, and the same goes for ponting.. langer ect ect..
is there any good young aussies coming through what so ever.. as tait looked very poor to me
You do have the upper hand but you dont deserve the number 1 spot just yet, and the aussies will bounce back :wink: You wont get the chance to take that number 1 spot matey 8) :wink:
:roll: =; [-(
Sorry, but the administrator has prevented you from sending private messages.
Fair dinkum PB, pull ya finger out :evil:
The rest of you….I’m not back yet, I’m waiting for Mr PB to unblock bloody private messages so I can apologise to whats-her-name, if he dosent hurry up I’ll be banned again before that can happen :roll: :(
But Hi anyway :D 8)
