South Africa has taken second place in the ICC Test Ranking after Pakistan’s 3-0 home win. The Proteas passed New Zealand and England after winning four points from their last triumph in the test series.
India (116 points) remains clearly in the lead in South Africa (110), England (108) and New Zealand (107)
Australia are fifth with 101 points after a 2-1 loss to India. Pakistan dropped one place, slipped to seventh place behind Sri Lanka and lost four points.
On the fourth day of the third and final test at Wanderers Stadium on Monday, South Africa sealed a clear victory with 107 wins.
The rapid bowling attack of the Proteas led to success, and the players of the series Duanne Olivier collected at 14:70 clock 24 gates.
Kagiso Rabada (17 wickets at 18.70) and Dale Steyn (12 at 29) also impressed as the consistently consistent Vernon Philander featured in two games and got six scalps.
“We are very happy that we have the arsenal of four fast bowlers,” said South African skipper Dean Elgar.
“We know they are a good team, we asked the guys three-zero, and we did that.
“We’re halfway to our season goals and we want to reach the same goal against Sri Lanka (in February).”
Meanwhile, Pakistan will not pass another test until after this year’s World Cup in England, which begins on May 30th. After beating six times in the series six times, there will be some beating problems.
The inaugural Test Championship will begin in July of this year – when Australia becomes an Ashes Test Series in England – and nine of the twelve Test Nations (except the newcomers Ireland and Afghanistan as well as Zimbabwe) will play six series two years – three home and three gone.
Each bilateral trial will offer at least two and a maximum of five tests. The championship ends with a “World Test League Championship Final”. The finals will be played in June 2021.
Pakistani head coach Mickey Arthur is keen to find a solution to his team’s problems over the coming months.
“We will play Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates in September, then directly in Australia,” Arthur said
“We need to have our skills perfect to handle the bouncing ball, and I want our batsmen to come to Australia three or four weeks earlier to camp there to prepare them.”
