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CASH flush South Africa have dropped to number 6 in the Test rankings, while Pakistan have climbed to third place, in the annual update released by the ICC yesterday. Australia have taken a six-point lead over second-placed India, while Pakistan trail India by only one point. England and New Zealand benefited from South Africa’s drop, moving to fourth and fifth respectively. West Indies retained their eighth-place ranking but lead Bangladesh by only eight points.

South Africa and West Indies lost the most points in the update, 17 and 11 respectively. The calculation process dropped results from 2012-13, while outcomes from 2014-15 were weighted at 50%. Only the latest results had 100% weightage. As a result, South Africa’s series victories over England, Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan in 2012-13 were not factored in. They lost series to India and England and drew with Bangladesh in the 2015-16 season. West Indies had beaten New Zealand, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in 2012-13 but lost to Australia and Sri Lanka in 2015-16.

The update favoured Pakistan, because their 2-0 loss to Sri Lanka in August 2014 was weighted at 50%. In terms of points gained, Bangladesh made the most progress, getting ten points, followed by Australia, who gained six.

Zimbabwe, ranked 10th, have 12 points but were not included in the rankings table released by the ICC yesterday because they had not completed the required eight Tests in the new rating period. The ICC said Zimbabwe will be added to the table once they play two more Tests.— ESPN