Stick Sports Community

Following on from Kirby's excellent blog on the ICC rankings system, I decided to have a go at making something better.

For tests, each match will have five points for a victory, two points for a tie or draw, and no points for losing.

Winning, drawing or tieing away from home gives an extra point.

Therefore, from the recent Ashes series, Australia would gain twelve points, and England would gain fourteen.

However, that is not all, as it would hardly be fair for the lower ranked teams when they beat higher ranked teams.

The points per match are multiplied firstly by a number that is the reverse of the opposition's current ranking. For example, were England to beat Australia in England, they would get five points multiplied by six points, as Australia is ranked fourth out of nine.

This number is then multiplied by the reverse of the year that the game was in, as the rankings cover four years. Therefore, were England to beat Australia in England in 2009, they would get five points multiplied by six points multiplied by four points. Were it in 2006, the last multiplier would only be one point. This weighting gives greater points for teams doing well currently, rather than four years ago. Got it? Good.

Finally, the final amount of points is divided by the amount of games played.

Therefore, under this points system, the rankings are as follows (the second multipliers are current rankings, so South Africa is nine, and Bangladesh is one. Once the initial rankings are done, that table can be used for the multipliers instead):

Australia:

vs England (England, 2009): 240
vs South Africa (South Africa, 2009): 432
vs South Africa (Australia, 2008/09): 180
vs New Zealand (Australia, 2008): 90
vs India (India, 2008): 126
vs West Indies (West Indies, 2008): 90
vs India (Australia, 2007/08): 217
vs Sri Lanka (Australia 2007): 160
vs England (Australia, 2006/07): 150
vs Bangladesh (Bangladesh, 2006): 12
vs South Africa (South Africa, 2006): 162
vs South Africa (Australia, 2006 - 1 match only, other matches were in 2005): 45

Total: 1904
Matches played: 37
Rating: 51
Ranking: 1st

Bangladesh:

vs West Indies (West Indies, 2009): 48
vs Sri Lanka (Bangladesh, 2008/09): 0
vs South Africa (South Africa, 2008): 0
vs New Zealand (Bangladesh, 2008): 18
vs South Africa (Bangladesh, 2008): 0
vs New Zealand (New Zealand, 2008): 0
vs Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka, 2007): 0
vs India (Bangladesh, 2007): 28
vs Australia (Bangladesh, 2006): 0
vs Sri Lanka (Bangladesh, 2006): 0

Total: 94
Matches played: 21
Rating: 4
Ranking: 9th

England:

vs Australia (England, 2009): 336
vs West Indies (England, 2009): 40
vs West Indies (West Indies, 2009): 96
vs India (India, 2008): 63
vs South Africa (England, 2008): 54
vs New Zealand (England, 2008): 108
vs New Zealand (New Zealand, 2008): 108
vs Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka, 2007): 96
vs India (England, 2007): 56
vs West Indies (England, 2007): 68
vs Australia (Australia, 2006/07): 0
vs Pakistan (England, 2006): 68
vs Sri Lanka (England, 2006): 56
vs India (India, 2006): 56

Total: 1205
Matches played: 49
Rating: 25
Ranking: 6th

India:

vs New Zealand (New Zealand, 2009): 144
vs England (India, 2008): 105
vs Australia (India, 2008): 252
vs Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka, 2008): 144
vs South Africa (India, 2008): 189
vs Australia (Australia, 2007/08): 162
vs Pakistan (India, 2007): 72
vs England (England, 2007): 120
vs Bangladesh (Bangladesh, 2007): 18
vs South Africa (South Africa, 2006/07): 54
vs West Indies (West Indies, 2006): 30
vs England (India, 2006): 35
vs Pakistan (Pakistan, 2006): 24

Total: 1349
Matches: 40
Rating: 34
Ranking: 2nd

New Zealand:

vs Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka, 2009): 0
vs India (New Zealand, 2009): 112
vs West Indies (New Zealand, 2008): 24
vs Australia (Australia, 2008): 0
vs Bangladesh (Bangladesh, 2008): 27
vs England (England, 2008): 45
vs England (New Zealand, 2008): 75
vs Bangladesh (New Zealand, 2008): 30
vs South Africa (South Africa, 2007): 0
vs Sri Lanka (New Zealand, 2006): 40
vs South Africa (South Africa, 2006): 27
vs West Indies (New Zealand, 2006): 24

Total: 404
Matches played: 29
Rating: 14
Ranking: 8th

Pakistan:

vs Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka, 2009): 96
vs Sri Lanka (Pakistan, 2009): 144
vs India (India, 2007): 84
vs South Africa (Pakistan, 2007): 36
vs South Africa (South Africa, 2007): 108
vs West Indies (Pakistan, 2006): 24
vs England (England, 2006): 15
vs Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka, 2006): 77
vs India (Pakistan, 2006): 63

Total: 647
Matches played: 25
Rating: 26
Ranking: 5th

South Africa

vs Australia (South Africa, 2009): 120
vs Australia (Australia, 2008/09): 180
vs Bangladesh (South Africa, 2008): 30
vs England (England, 2008): 225
vs India (India, 2008): 194
vs Bangladesh (Bangladesh, 2008): 36
vs West Indies (South Africa, 2007/08): 60
vs New Zealand (South Africa, 2007): 60
vs Pakistan (Pakistan, 2007): 72
vs Pakistan (South Africa, 2007): 80
vs India (South Africa, 2006/07): 105
vs Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka, 2006): 0
vs New Zealand (South Africa, 2006): 36
vs Australia (South Africa, 2006): 0
vs Australia (Australia, 2006 - 1 match only, other matches were in 2005): 0

Total: 1198
Matches played: 39
Rating: 31
Ranking: 3rd

Sri Lanka:

vs New Zealand (Sri Lanka, 2009): 120
vs Pakistan (Sri Lanka, 2009): 192
vs Pakistan (Pakistan, 2009): 96
vs Bangladesh (Bangladesh, 2008/09): 42
vs India (Sri Lanka, 2008): 210
vs West Indies (West Indies, 2008): 36
vs England (Sri Lanka, 2007): 90
vs Australia (Australia, 2007): 0
vs Bangladesh (Sri Lanka, 2007): 30
vs New Zealand (New Zealand, 2006): 18
vs South Africa (Sri Lanka, 2006): 90
vs England (England, 2006): 45
vs Pakistan (Sri Lanka, 2006): 8
vs Bangladesh (Bangladesh, 2006): 12

Total: 989
Matches played: 33
Rating: 30
Ranking: 4th

West Indies:

vs Bangladesh (West Indies, 2009): 0
vs England (England, 2009): 0
vs England (West Indies, 2009): 260
vs New Zealand (New Zealand, 2008): 54
vs Australia (West Indies, 2008): 36
vs Sri Lanka (West Indies, 2008): 120
vs South Africa (South Africa, 2007/08): 108
vs England (England, 2007): 30
vs Pakistan (Pakistan, 2006): 12
vs India (West Indies, 2006): 42
vs New Zealand (New Zealand, 2006): 9

Total: 671
Matches played: 33
Rating: 20
Ranking: 7th

So, then:

Australia
India
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Pakistan
England
West Indies
New Zealand
Bangladesh

It is not perfect by any means. Australia's margin is quite big over India due to two things: a) there are still remnants left over from the Warne/McGrath etc. era, and b) they are fourth, so their achievements against Sri Lanka and South Africa at the moment are scaled too high. In general however, it is good.

This system would work, but teams consistently playing against the lower teams would find themselves dropping down the "ladder" fairly quickly - this system does not like people playing against those well below them.

In general, I find this system to be good, but it could do with some tweaks nonetheless. It's still better than what the ICC has put up.

I may do ODIs at some point in the future, but it's doubtful - there's too many of them!