New Zealand and England will do battle for important ICC Test Championship points and positions in the three Test series between the two countries, which begins in Christchurch on Wednesday this week (13th March).
England won the last encounter in New Zealand by a 2-0 margin in 1996/97, meaning it has to record another victory to maintain the two points gained. Anything less would drop it down the table from its current fourth position.
That situation provides a great incentive for the Black Caps to move ahead of the visitors with a series win that would move it two places up the ladder to third spot. A win would add two points to the Kiwis' total, improving its series average to 1.19 and taking third place from current incumbent Sri Lanka (average 1.14).
A home team victory would drop England from fourth to joint fifth with the West Indies.
A drawn series would gain a point for the home side, moving it ahead of England into fourth place on the table with an improved average of 1.12. A point lost for England with the draw would see it drop to fifth place.
ICC Test Championship Table, 11th March 2002
Team Played Won Lost Drawn Points Average
Australia 13 9 2 2 20 1.54
South Africa 16 11 3 2 24 1.50
Sri Lanka 14 7 5 2 16 1.14
England 15 7 6 2 16 1.07
New Zealand 16 7 6 3 17 1.06
West Indies 14 6 7 1 13 0.93
Pakistan 16 4 7 5 13 0.81
India 14 4 7 3 11 0.79
Zimbabwe 16 3 11 2 8 0.50
Bangladesh 4 0 4 0 0 -
ICC Match Officials
Former West Indies Test player Jackie Hendriks is the ICC Match Referee for the series. The international panel umpire for the first Test in Christchurch will be Asoka De Silva. Umpires for the second and third Tests will be confirmed next week.
Media contact:
Mark Harrison
ICC Communications Manager
Tel: + 44 20 7266 7913/1818
Mobile: 0787 944 1891
Email: mark.harrison@icc-cricket.com
© ICC
