England, Aussies look for important points in Ashes

DUBAI: Important ranking points will be up for grabs in the Ashes as Australia and England battle it out in five Tests starting in Brisbane tomorrow (Thursday), says an ICC release.
Third-placed England go into the series with 105 points on the ICC Test Team Rankings table, enjoying an eight-point lead over Australia, who will look to maximize their home advantage and move up from fifth position.
Australia will overtake England if they win by a margin of 2-0 or better and could even go up to third position if they can complete a 5-0 series washout. In the event of being blanked out, England will slip down to 98 points.
On the other hand, England will go up to 110 points with a 5-0 win, in which case Australia will slip to 91 points and could be down to sixth position. India, who are currently engaged in a three-Test home series with Sri Lanka, lead the table with 125 points while South Africa are in second place with 111 points.
Series scenarios: If Australia win 5-0: Australia 106 (+9), England 98 (-7).
If Australia win 4-0: Australia 104 (+7), England 99 (-6).
If Australia win 4-1 or 3-0: Australia 103 (+6), England 100 (-5).
If Australia win 3-1 or 2-0: Australia 102 (+5), England 101 (-4).
Australia win 3-2, 2-1 or 1-0: England 102 (-3), Australia 101 (+4).
If drawn series: England 104 (-1), Australia 97 (no change).
If England win 5-0: England 110 (+5), Australia 91 (-6).
If England win 4-0: England 109 (+4), Australia 92 (-5).
If England win 4-1 or 3-0: England 108 (+3), Australia 93 (-4).
If England win 3-2, 2-1 or 1-0; England 106 (+1), Australia 96 (-1).
If England win 3-1 or 2-0: (England 107 (+2), Australia 94 (-3)
In the ICC Test Player Rankings, Australia captain Steve Smith leads the table for batsmen with his counterpart Joe Root in second position but a good 47 points behind.
Australia’s left-handed batsman David Warner is another player in the top-10, in sixth position. Outside the top 20, Peter Handscomb is at a career-best 26th position and would be looking to further advance in the rankings.
Australia also boast Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon in sixth and seventh positions, respectively, among bowlers, while Mitchell Starc is in 13th position and would be looking to find his way into the top 10.
For England, former captain Alastair Cook will be hoping to repeat his 2010-11 Ashes form, when he scored 766 runs. He is presently ranked 10th while Jonny Bairstow is ranked 15th.
England’s bowling is led by top-ranked James Anderson, who enjoys a 20-point lead over South Africa pace bowler Kagiso Rabada. He is presently on 896 points and in with a chance to become only the seventh England bowler to touch the 900-point mark. Stuart Broad is ranked 10th.
Meanwhile, India captain Virat Kohli has edged Warner to take fifth position after completing his 50th international century in the first match of a three-Test series against Sri Lanka in Kolkata, which ended in a draw on Tuesday. Kohli, who is top-ranked in both ODIs and T20Is, knocked up a fine 104 not out on the last day of the match.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan has gained two places to reach 28th position while among India’s bowlers, pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar has gained eight places to reach a career-best 29th position and Mohammad Shami has moved up one slot to 18th position.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who started the Sri Lanka series with the opportunity to reclaim the top bowling and all-rounder rankings, could not work towards the objective in Kolkata as all Sri Lanka batsmen fell to pace bowlers. Jadeja has slipped to third position among bowlers and also lost 20 points in the rankings for all-rounders, but still has a lot to look forward to in the remaining matches.
For Sri Lanka, Niroshan Dickwella has gained three slots to reach 37th position among batsmen while off-spinner Dilruwan Perera has moved up three places to reach 22nd position among bowlers.
ICC Test Team Rankings (as of November 21, 2017, before the Ashes): 1. India 125, 2. South Africa 111, 3. England 105, 4. New Zealand 97, 5. Australia 97, 6. Sri Lanka 94, 7. Pakistan 88, 8. Windies 75, 9. Bangladesh 72, 10. Zimbabwe 02.
Batsmen: 1. Steve Smith (Aus) 936, 2. Joe Root (Eng) 889, 3. K. Williamson (NZ) 880, 4. C. Pujara (Ind) 866, 5. Virat Kohli (Ind) 817, 6. David Warner (Aus) 807, 7. Hashim Amla (SA) 795, 8. Lokesh Rahul (Ind) 757, 9. Azhar Ali (Pak) 755, 10. Alastair Cook (Eng) 738.
Bowlers: 1. J. Anderson (Eng) 896, 2. Kagiso Rabada (SA) 876, 3. R. Jadeja (Ind) 868, 4. R. Ashwin (Ind) 840, 5. R. Herath (SL) 820, 6. J. Hazlewood (Aus) 794, 7. Nathan Lyon (Aus) 752, 8. Dale Steyn (SA) 748, 9. Neil Wagner (NZ) 745, 10. Stuart Broad (Eng) 737.
Others selected rankings: 15. Yasir Shah (Pak) 704.
All-rounders: 1. S. Al Hasan (Ban) 438, 2. R. Jadeja (Ind) 409, 3. Ben Stokes (Eng) 396, 4. R. Ashwin (Ind) 395, 5. Moeen Ali (Eng) 378.