daniel chigunwe
England have dropped to sixth in the world Test rankings and now hold their lowest points total for 27 years.
England, who have won only one of their past 17 Tests and are winless in nine, have dropped a place below Pakistan.
Their points rating of 88, a calculation of their points scored divided by matches played across a time period, is their lowest since 1995.
Australia are top of the annually-updated rankings followed by India, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan.
England, who named all-rounder Ben Stokes as their new captain after Joe Root’s resignation, play New Zealand in their next Test series in June.
The rescheduled fifth Test against India follows in July before three Tests against South Africa in August and September
Off-field issues a positive for captaincy — Stokes
Speaking about the team’s form on Tuesday, Stokes said: “If we’re completely realistic, winning one game in 17 is nowhere near good enough.
‘‘What we can do is say, ‘There’s only one way to go from here, which is up’.
‘‘I can’t expect it to just click and all of a sudden we’re number one in a year’s time.
‘‘That would be fantastic, but I’m very excited about the role I’ve got to play in hopefully making the England Test team great again, it’s a big goal of mine and I’m really looking forward to it.’’ — BBC Sport.
Bongani Ndlovu