Chris Waters: ICC ranked bottom of the league in promoting Test scene

The International Cricket Council (ICC) correspondence arrives complete with relevant tables and points ratings.

For example, following England’s series-squaring Test victory against Sri Lanka in Colombo earlier this month, the ICC sent out an email informing that England had held on to their No 1 position.

It listed the team standings as follows: England (116 points), South Africa (116), India (111), Australia (111), Pakistan (108), Sri Lanka (99), West Indies (87), New Zealand (85) and Bangladesh (8).

Although England and South Africa had level points, as did India and Australia, the email stated that England had a superior rating to South Africa when calculated beyond the decimal point.

The ICC then cautioned as to the fragile nature of England’s No 1 status, observing: “England may have successfully held on to its position, but the threat on its No 1 status is still looming.

“With the West Indies and South Africa touring England this summer from 17 May and 19 July, respectively, a series loss in any of the two series will mean England’s ranking will take a dive, provided Australia wins its series against the West Indies.

“If Australia beats the West Indies by 1-0 or better and England wins all the three Tests against the West Indies, Andrew Strauss’s side can still drop behind South Africa if Graeme Smith’s side wins the second Test series of the summer in England by 1-0 or better.”

Finally, the email concluded that the points table will be updated once again after the West Indies/Australia series, due to finish on April 27.

I do not know about you, but I could not care less.

Although England are rightly proud of their No 1 status, it is, in many respects, meaningless – as evidenced by their struggles on the sub-continent this winter.

England are not yet No 1 material in all conditions and the ICC table, designed to take into account results over a four-year period, increasingly strikes me as an irrelevant gimmick.

The same goes for the ICC player rankings.

A few days ago, the ICC sent out another message which led off with the following news… “Ben Hilfenhaus and Ryan Harris, who saw Australia home to a three wickets win against the West Indies with the bat in Bridgetown, Barbados, have achieved their highest-ever bowling ratings in the latest Reliance ICC Test Rankings.

“Man of the match Harris, who took three for 31 in the West Indies second innings, jumps five places to 16th in the rankings with his highest-ever ratings points of 614.

“Hilfenhaus, who not only took 4-27 in the West Indies second innings but also scored the match-winning run, climbs three places to eighth with 751 ratings points.

“In the batting rankings, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who scored a first innings 103, has moved up three places to fifth while Darren Bravo, with 51 in the first innings and 32 in the second, has attained a career-best ratings points of 695 but remains 21st in the batting rankings.”

Really? How fascinating.

Without demeaning the achievements of those fine players, is anyone remotely bothered beyond their nearest and dearest?

If that is the best the ICC can do to improve the relevance of Test cricket in a Twenty20 era, then heaven help us.

In my opinion, Test cricket will only become truly relevant again if there is less of it (thus making it more of an event) and fewer Twenty20 matches – neither of which is going to happen this side of Armageddon.