England slip to the fifth position in the latest ICC Test rankings

England have slipped to the fifth position in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Team Rankings after their 2-1 loss to the Windies in the series that culminated in St Lucia.

Starting the series with the objective of winning it to remain in the third position, England have slipped behind New Zealand and Australia as they have lost four points and are now on 104. Australia edge them on decimals after winning both Tests of their recent two-match series against Sri Lanka that helped them gain three points.

The Windies have gained seven points and moved up to 77 but remain in the eighth position in the points table led by India with 116 points and South Africa second with 110. New Zealand are third with 107 points.

South Africa’s chance to gain points

Meanwhile, South Africa and Sri Lanka will be locking horns in the two-match Test series from February 13 at the Kingsmead in Durban. With the Islanders struggling in the longest format of the game, the Proteas will be eyeing another clean sweep. Sri Lanka are coming off a humiliating 2-0 defeat to Australia and before that, they had also lost to New Zealand.

Currently, Sri Lanka are at the sixth position in the ICC Test rankings with 90 points to their name. South Africa are placed second with 110 points and will gain two points if they clean sweep the visitors. However, if Sri Lanka pull off a surprise and stun them to win the series 1-0, then New Zealand will overcome the Proteas as the Faf du Plessis side will lose four points.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will drop to the seventh position if they lose another series which look the likeliest scenario at the moment. It will be interesting to see if Sri Lanka pose any threat to South Africa who are on a rampage this season.

Here are the latest ICC Rankings:

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