Australia guaranteed to stay top after test ratings update

Australia's 1-0 series win over Sri Lanka is good enough to ensure that it will remain well clear at the top of the ICC Test Championship table when the ratings undergo their annual update later this month.

The 1-0 series outcome means that, ahead of the update, the ratings and positions in the official table of both sides remain unchanged with Australia in first place with a rating of 127, while Sri Lanka are seventh on 94.

The official ratings are updated every year to ensure that the table reflects the current form of all teams. This update sees the results of series completed more than three years ago removed from the ratings calculations.

Australia's lead in the official Test table is so commanding that there is no danger of them losing top spot when the ratings are updated but there could be changes lower down the table.

The following series are amongst those completed prior to August 2001 which will no longer count towards the official ratings:

- South Africa's wins over West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand
- India's famous 2-1 home series win against Australia

This means that when the updated ratings are confirmed later this month, South Africa's place in the top two will be in jeopardy for the first time since the ICC Test Championship was introduced in 2001.

India, meanwhile, will have an opportunity to compensate for the loss from the ratings of its most famous Test series victory when it locks horns again with Australia on home soil in October.

The forthcoming series between England and the West Indies will be the first to count towards the updated ratings. The new ratings will be announced on Monday 19 July.

All matches included within the ICC Test Championship will always fall into one of two time periods:

- Period One covers the earliest two years of matches
- Period Two covers all subsequent series, i.e. the last one to two years

Weightings are applied to these two groups of series so that the ratings more fully reflect recent form. The weightings are as follows:

- Period One matches have a weighting of 50%
- Period Two matches have a weighting of 100%

After August 2004, the weighting of matches being played now will remain at 100%, while the weighting of matches played in the year to August 2003 will fall to 50%.