UK(Commonwealth)_The visitors stunned England to take a one-all series after a crucial session in which the Sri Lankan pacers excelled. It was a back-and-forth Test match. Sri Lanka‘s victory at The Oval lifted them to the top of the ICC World Test Championship standings, but England emerged victorious in the series.
With three victories in seven Tests during this cycle, Sri Lanka has a points percentage of 42.857%, whereas England is only a few decimal places behind with 42.187% after eight wins in sixteen Test matches. In the first innings of the Test match, England had gained the lead when their bowlers restricted Sri Lanka, following the hosts’ 325 in the first innings, England’s bowlers held Sri Lanka to 263 in the first innings, giving England the advantage. However, the hosts were reduced to 69/5 on day three following an outstanding performance by Sri Lanka’s pace quartet, which quickly escalated to 82/7.
Following a counterattacking half-century by Jamie Smith (67 from 50 balls), England managed to rally and take a respectable lead. England had set a target of 219, which was intimidating enough for a squad that has never once successfully run-chased over 200 on a continent other than Asia, even after they were bowled out for 156. However, the tides turned as Sri Lanka, spearheaded by a flashy Pathum Nissanka at the top, tore up the English attack and raced ahead at a rate of almost six runs per over at The Oval. With an industrious Kusal Mendis at the other end, Nissanka achieved his half-century off just 42 balls (he had previously made an outstanding 51 balls in the first innings).
By stumps on day three, the visitors had significantly reduced the target. Day four began with a spectacular catch by Shoaib Bashir, which ended the dangerous Mendis-Nissanka partnership when the former was out for 37 balls and 39 runs. However, Nissanka kept adding misery to England’s innings, finishing with an undefeated 127 to lead the side home with Angelo Mathews. Since Kusal Perera‘s historic 153* in South Africa in 2019, Nissanka’s 127* is the highest score by a Sri Lankan in the fourth innings in a Test match. This was Sri Lanka’s fourth Test victory overall and their first in England in ten years; their last victory occurred in Leeds in June 2014.
In the World Test Championship cycle, Sri Lanka still has two difficult home series against Australia and New Zealand before a journey to South Africa. England, on the other hand, will now go to Pakistan for a three-match series before concluding the cycle with another away game in New Zealand. For the 12 teams who play Test cricket, the International Cricket Council maintains an international rankings system called the ICC Men’s Test Team Rankings (previously known as the ICC Test Championship). Without taking into account home or away status, the rankings are based on international matches that are otherwise played as part of the normal Test cricket schedule.
Following each Test series, the two participating teams are awarded points according to a mathematical formula that takes into account both teams’ prior ratings as well as the series’ outcome. A “rating” is calculated by dividing each team’s total points from games played during the previous three to four years by the number of games and series played overall. In a match that ends in a draw, the lower-ranked team will win at the expense of the higher-ranked team. An “average” team with a rating of 100 will play a mix of better and weaker teams and win as frequently as it loses.
Before the ICC World Test Championship was established, the top-ranked Test team received the ICC Test Championship mace. The mace was moved every time a new team rose to the top of the rating list between 2003 and 2019. Each year on April 1st, a monetary reward was also awarded to the team who topped the ratings chart. As of a May 2024 update, Australia is the team with the top rating in the rankings. Cricket-playing nations are accused of denying equitable opportunity because wealthy nations receive more test cricket matches than impoverished nations, with some receiving many encounters.
