England look to retain third position in Windies series

England will have to win their upcoming three-match series against West Indies in order to retain their third position in the ICC Test team rankings.

England's challenge will start on January 23 in Bridgetown with Joe Root-led side knowing they have to win by at least a 1-0 margin to remain ahead of fourth-ranked New Zealand.

A series victory will keep England ahead of New Zealand (107) on decimal points while a drawn series will see them drop to fourth position and 105 points.

A 3-0 sweep will lift England to 109 points but they will remain behind India and South Africa, while West Indies will remain at the eighth position irrespective of how the matches pan out.

In the other series starting on January 24, Australia and Sri Lanka will remain at the fifth and sixth positions, respectively, whatever the series result.

Australia will gain three points and go up to 104 if they win 2-0 with Sri Lanka losing two and going down to 89 in such a scenario. Sri Lanka can go up to 95 points and to within two points of Australia with a 2-0 series win.

In the ICC Test player rankings, second-ranked English fast bowler James Anderson would be looking to overtake South African Kagiso Rabada, with only eight points separating them while England captain Joe Root will be the top-ranked batsman for the visiting side.

For West Indies, Roston Chase placed at the 43rd position will be the leading batsman in terms of rankings and their captain Jason Holder placed at 10th will be the leading bowler.

Australia fast bowling pair of Pat Cummins (4th) and Josh Hazlewood (11th) among bowlers and Usman Khawaja (12th) among batsmen will be the ones fancying their chances of moving up high on the rankings.

Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal (16th) will be the top-ranked batsman for the visiting side in the absence of Angelo Mathews while Dilruwan Perera (26th) will be their top bowler.