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New Zealand began the series against Sri Lanka in seventh place in the ratings with 1019 points.� Sri Lanka was ranked just ahead of New Zealand in sixth place with 1045 points, a lead of 26 rating points.� The series should have been relatively close, with a drawn series the most likely outcome.� A full strength Sri Lanka would have been expected to hold a slight advantage over the home side.�
However, Sri Lanka was not at full strength.� Muttiah Muralitharan, their world-class match-winning spinner continues to be sidelined with a long-term shoulder injury.� New Zealand similarly was without their best spinner, Daniel Vettori.� The difference was that Sri Lanka is far more dependent on Muralitharan.� Sri Lanka's chances of any given Test victory drop rapidly when Muralitharan is not available.
The New Zealand win sees each team retain their positions in the ratings.� New Zealand has lengthened their already comfortable lead over eighth placed West Indies to 61 rating points.� However, the win means that New Zealand has dramatically reduced the rating gap to Sri Lanka to only nine points.�
Having put themselves in a position to overtake Sri Lanka, the Kiwi's now have the next three months away from the Test cricket arena. �The next series is scheduled during August in Zimbabwe.� While the Black Caps should easily defeat Zimbabwe, their chances of replacing Sri Lanka in sixth place depend upon the earlier series when Sri Lanka tours West Indies in mid-July 2005.�
New Zealand's last twelve months of Test cricket has been very difficult.� Series against (then) second placed South Africa, (then) third placed England, and twice against first placed Australia have been punctuated by short series against Bangladesh and now Sri Lanka.�
New Zealand's performance against the best quality opposition was not good.� The Kiwis drew the series against South Africa, but then they were thumped by England and then twice again by Australia.� The New Zealand rating would have been much worse had they not performed so well against the lesser opposition of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
New Zealand will benefit from a prolonged sequence of Test series against nations not ranked in the top three.� New Zealand's national record highest rating is 1047 points, set in March 1990.� The current team has reached 1041 points in March 2004 - just six points short of taking the record themselves.� New Zealand needs to gain another 21 ratings points to achieve this mark.
Sri Lanka will anxiously be following Muralitharan's progress after his shoulder injury.� Sri Lanka next faces a two Test tour of the Caribbean and then a similarly short series against Bangladesh.� However, Sri Lanka will not wish to face opposition of a higher calibre without Muralitharan fit and bowling at his best.� Sri Lanka's batsmen can generally hold their own against average bowling attacks.� However, Sri Lanka's batsmen continue to wilt under massive opposition totals when Muralitharan cannot tie up one end of the attack and exert pressure on opposition batsmen.
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The latest Test cricket ratings are: 1. Australia (1252); 2. England (1132); 3. South Africa (1124); 4. India (1077); 5. Pakistan (1063) ; 6. Sri Lanka (1038); 7. New Zealand (1028); 8. West Indies (967); 9. Zimbabwe (864); 10. Bangladesh (794).
