How ICC Rankings Work
The ICC publishes rankings for international teams and players in Test, ODI and T20I cricket. Men are ranked in all three formats and women in ODI and T20I. This page explains how the numbers are worked out. You can see the current rankings on the home page.
Team rankings
Every team has a rating: its total ranking points divided by the number of matches it has played. That is why a team can play fewer matches and still rank higher. The rating is an average, not a total.
After each match, both teams earn points based on the result and on how far apart their ratings were going into the series:
- Ratings less than 40 apart. The winner earns the loser’s rating plus 50. The loser earns the winner’s rating minus 50. A tie earns each team the other’s rating.
- Ratings 40 or more apart. If the stronger team wins, it earns its own rating plus 10 and the weaker team its own rating minus 10. If the weaker team wins, it earns its own rating plus 90 and the stronger team its own rating minus 90. A tie earns the stronger team its own rating minus 40 and the weaker team its own rating plus 40.
So beating a much stronger side moves a team up a lot, while beating a much weaker side barely moves it. Test rankings also give credit for winning a series, not just individual matches.
Which matches count
The table covers roughly the last three to four years. Matches played since the May before last count in full. Matches from the two years before that count half. Every May the ICC runs an annual update: the oldest year drops out and the weightings move on, which is why the tables can change in May even when no cricket is played.
Try it yourself with the team rankings predictor.
Player rankings
Batters, bowlers and all-rounders are rated on a scale from 0 to 1,000. A rating is a weighted average of a player’s performances over their career, with recent matches counting more than older ones.
- Batting points depend on runs scored, the strength of the bowling attack, how high- or low-scoring the match was, and whether the team won.
- Bowling points depend on wickets taken, the quality of the batters dismissed, runs conceded and the match result.
- All-rounder ratings combine the two: batting rating × bowling rating ÷ 1,000. A player needs to be good at both to rank highly.
Ratings for newer players are scaled down until they have played enough matches, so a few big innings can’t push a debutant straight to the top. Players who stop playing international cricket drop out of the published list after a period of inactivity.
As a rough guide, a rating above 900 is exceptional and relatively few players have ever reached it. A rating above 750 usually means a player is among the best in the world in that format.
World Test Championship
The World Test Championship is separate from the Test team rankings. The nine leading Test teams play a set of series over a two-year cycle. Each match is worth 12 points for a win, 6 for a tie and 4 for a draw. Teams are ranked by the percentage of available points won (PCT), because they don’t all play the same number of matches. Points can be deducted for slow over rates. The top two at the end of the cycle play the final.
When rankings are updated
Player rankings are usually updated weekly, on Wednesdays, and after major matches. Team rankings change after each completed series and in the annual update every May. This site checks for new rankings every hour, so a change shows here shortly after it is published, with arrows showing who moved up or down.