ICC Test Championship

The ICC Test Championship is a notional competition run by the International Cricket Council in the sport of cricket for the 10 nations that play Test cricket.

In essence, after every Test match, the two teams involved receive points based on a mathematical formula. The total of each team's points total is divided by the total number of matches to give a 'rating', and the Test-playing teams are ranked by order of rating (this can be shown in a table)

By analogy to cricket batting averages, the points for winning a Test match are greater than the team's rating, increasing the rating, and the points for losing a Test match are always less than the rating, reducing the rating. A drawn match between higher and lower rated teams will benefits the lower-rated team at the expense of the higher-rated team. An 'average' team that wins as often as it loses while playing a mix of stronger and weaker teams should have a rating of 100.

As of 13 June, 2004, Australia leads the ICC Test Championship with 127 points, with South Africa in second place (112 points) and England third (107 points). Bangladesh trail with 1 point.

Table of contents

1 Test Championship calculations
2 See also
3 External link

Test Championship calculations

The calculations for the Table are performed as follows:

Each team scores points based on the results of their matches.
Each team's rating is equal to its total points scored divided by the total matches and series played. (A series must include at least two Tests).
A series only counts if it was played in the last three years.
Series played in the first two years of the three-year limit count half; essentially, recent matches are given more weightage.
To determine a team's rating after a particular series:
- Find the series result
  - Award 1 point to a team for each win
  - Award 1/2 point to a team for each draw
  - Award 1 bonus point to the team winning the series
  - Award 1/2 bonus point to each team if the series is drawn
- Convert the series result to actual ratings points
  - If the gap between the ratings of the two teams at the commencement of the series is less than 40 points, then the ratings points for each team equals:
    - (The team's own series result) multiplied by (50 points MORE than the opponent's rating) PLUS
    - (The opponent's series result) multiplied by (50 points LESS than the opponent's rating)
  - If the gap between the ratings of the two teams at the commencement of the series is more than or equal to 40 points, then the ratings points for the stronger team equals:
    - (The team's own series result) multiplied by (10 points MORE than the team's own rating) PLUS
    - (The opponent's series result) multiplied by (90 points LESS than the team's own rating)
  - If the gap between the ratings of the two teams at the commencement of the series is more than or equal to 40 points, then the ratings points for the weaker team equals:
    - (The team's own series result) multiplied by (90 points MORE than the team's own rating) PLUS
    - (The opponent's series result) multiplied by (10 points LESS than the team's own rating)
- Add the ratings points scored by the team to the total ratings points already scored (in previous matches, as reflected by the Table) and calculate the new rating.

External link