Test Cricket Rankings poser.

A look at the latest test rankings from a Kiwi perspective

ICC Test Championship

30 November 2014

Team	Matches	Points	Rating
South Africa	27	3353	124
Australia	35	4088	117
England	39	4063	104
Pakistan	30	3090	103
Sri Lanka	31	3126	101
India	29	2793	96
New Zealand	34	3207	94
West Indies	26	1962	75
Bangladesh	21	676	32
Zimbabwe	13	228	18

Plain to see the rankings haven't shift since the end of the third Pakistan test, so will we threaten India on the table?

ICC Player Rankings
Rank	Name	Country	Rating
1	K.C. Sangakkara	SL	915
2	A.B. de Villiers	SA	888
3	S. Chanderpaul	WI	887
4	A.D. Mathews	SL	873
5	H.M. Amla	SA	863
6	D.A. Warner	AUS	858
7	Younus Khan	PAK	818
8	J.E. Root	ENG	789
9	L.R.P.L. Taylor	NZ	783
10	Misbah-ul-Haq	PAK	777

Now here is a real teaser.  In the last calendar year both Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson have surpassed Ross Taylor in runs scored and their impact on the matches they have played

Rank	Name	Country	Rating
1	D.W. Steyn	SA	907
2	R.J. Harris	AUS	853
3	H.M.R.K.B. Herath	SL	851
4	M.G. Johnson	AUS	844
5	J.M. Anderson	ENG	806
6	V.D. Philander	SA	785
7	S.C.J. Broad	ENG	774
8	K.A.J. Roach	WI	768
9	T.A. Boult	NZ	762
10	T.G. Southee	NZ	744

Only question about Southee and Boult is their placement on the table.  This should be rectified after the new rankings come in.

ICC Player Rankings
Rank	Name	Country	Rating
1	Shakib Al Hasan	BAN	398
2	R. Ashwin	IND	357
3	V.D. Philander	SA	348
4	S.C.J. Broad	ENG	296
5	M.G. Johnson	AUS	281
6	S.R. Watson	AUS	236
7	R.J. Harris	AUS	226
8	T.G. Southee	NZ	212
9	D.W. Steyn	SA	210
10	D.L. Vettori	NZ	203

Makes one wonder how old these rankings are when you take into consideration Vettori hasn't played test cricket for over two years?  If current form is considered  young M Craig should be making an appearance soon.

Stats Porn - Taylor, McCullum and Williamson

And with a Kohli century the summer of Indian cricket finishes.  A great tight series against the West Indies and then the great results and efforts versus the world number 2, India.  But I'm not going to tarry over all the records broken in that second innings, instead I am going to focus on the three top order batsmen that have performed all season.

I have tabulated the individual scores for all forms of the game this summer, done averages, posted their career averages in each discipline, and tabulated a series average over the three forms.  Makes for some very interesting reading.

Brendon McCullum.

	Test Runs	Not Out	ODI Runs	Not Out	T20 Runs	Not Out
BB McCullum	113		51		60	*
	9		33		17
	37		14
	12		6
	224		30
	1		0
	8		0
	302		49	*
			23
Aggregate	706		206		77
Number of innings	8		8		1
Average	88.25		25.75		77
Career Average	38.09		30.24		36.27
Combined average across all three forms.			63.67

Ross Taylor

	Test Runs	Not Out	ODI Runs	Not Out	T20 Runs	Not Out
LRPL Taylor	217	*	3		5
	16	*	9		39
	129		49
	131		9
	2	*	55
	3		57
	41		17
			112	*
			102
Aggregate	539		413		44
Number of innings	4		8		2
Average	134.75		51.625		22
Career Average	46.94		40.07		23.9
Combined average across all three forms.			69.46

Kane Willimason

	Test Runs	Not Out	ODI Runs	Not Out	T20 Runs	Not Out
K Williamson	45		8
	58		47
	56		16
	113		71
	3		77
	47		65
	7		60
			88
Aggregate	329		432		0
Number of innings	6		8		0
Average	54.83		54
Career Average	36.37		39.51		23.9
Combined average across all three forms.			54.42