Test cricket's rankings count a two-match series as three games
Test cricket's official table treats a series win as worth a whole extra match. Each Test won earns one point and each draw half, but taking the series adds a bonus point. So when two teams finish a two-Test series, each side's games-played tally rises by three, and the maths quietly rewards the sides that close series out.
The International Cricket Council rates the 12 Test-playing nations, ignoring whether matches were at home or away. Ratings update only when a series ends, and only series of at least two Tests qualify. As in other formats, an ordinary side that wins about as often as it loses should settle around 100, and a draw between unequal teams helps the lower-rated one.
The calculation runs in two stages. First comes a tally of series points: one per win, a half per draw or tie, plus a bonus of one for the series winner or a half each if it is shared. Those are then converted into rating points using both sides' previous ratings, with separate rules depending on whether the teams start within 40 points of each other. Either way, beating an opponent in a single Test is worth 100 rating points more than losing to it.
Results fade with time. Only the last three to four years count, the older half at reduced weight, and every May a year of results disappears overnight. Teams also need eight Tests within the cycle to earn a rating, which is why Afghanistan and Ireland have been left unrated.
From 2003 until 2019 the side on top held a physical mace, handed over whenever the leadership changed, with a cash prize for whoever led on 1 April. Since the World Test Championship began in 2019, the mace goes to that competition's winner instead. Australia dominated early on, but from 2009 the lead passed among England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Australia. The council later ran the formula over results back to 1952, stopping there because earlier matches were too scarce.
Source: ICC Men's Test Team Rankings
