Australians Reclaim Grandmaster Status

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5 January 2002

There was a belief that Australia would be genuinely challenged by second placed South Africa in their three Test series.  South Africa had the better track record on tour than the Australian side over the last two years. Australia had lost in Sri Lanka in 1999 while South Africa drew in 2000.  Australia had drawn in the Caribbean in 1999 and South Africa had won in 2001.  Australia had lost in India in 2001 while South Africa had won in 2000. Both sides held a vast lead over third placed Pakistan of at least 95 points.  Whatever happened, they would remain in first and second place, the order was to be determined.  This was expected to be a clash of similar strength titans with Australia holding a slight edge. The most disappointing aspect was the apparent size of the margin between these two sides.  Australia inflicted the first series whitewash over a South African team by any nation since Bill Woodfull's 1931-32 Australians.  This result has seen the Australians rise to 1213 points.  They have again joining the elite master class of Test sides with a rating above 1200 points. Since the Australians defeated West Indies 5-0 in 2000-01, their rating has oscillated around the 1200-point barrier.  From 1214 points after they defeated West Indies, Australia's loss in India drew them down to 1195 points.  The exploits in England took them up to 1205 points before the worse than expected result against New Zealand dragged them down to 1193 points. In all, 2001 was an up and down year for their rating. South Africa has spent the last eighteen months preparing for their attempt on the top spot.  For South Africa, it was the chance to retake first position that they lost to Australia in January 2000.  South Africa had observed Australia's mixed result in 2001 as a sign that fortune was turning in their favour.  They were very wrong. The Australians saw the challenge and were ready.  To overcome one's nearest rivals in close competition and remain in the top position is a great achievement.  However, to completely, comprehensively and mercilessly obliterate one's nearest rival while making them look mostly like also-ran amateurs is yet another demonstration of just how good Stephen Waugh's Australian side. This series has reinforced Australia's position as the classiest team since Sir Vivian Richards' West Indian sides of the mid to late 1980s.  Australia defeated South Africa by a wide margin in all three Tests in this series.  The margin increased with each Test until the defeat in Sydney by 10 wickets.  This was South Africa's worst defeat since an innings loss to Sri Lanka in July 2000, twenty-one tests ago. Waugh's Australians now hold the seventh highest rating by any team in history.  It is the third highest rating held by an Australian team: four points below Lindsay Hassett's Australians (1217) from half a century ago in 1951-52; and one point below the rating achieved after defeating West Indies 5-0 last season (1214).

South Africa remains ranked second but their rating has fallen 20 points to 1136 points.  This is their lowest rating since before they defeated West Indies 5-0 in January 1999.  That was the series that saw them jump sixty-eight points from fourth to first position in the ratings. Australia has inflicted some deep psychological scars on the South Africans.  The second innings heroics in the Sydney Test in no way make up for this.  These heroics occurred after they had lost the Test and the series and the pressure was off. South Africa may be able to pick up the pieces and redeem themselves in the one-day competition that follows this Test series.  One-day games can, after all, be more of a lottery at times and the balls may fall in South Africa's favour.  South Africa's next Test series starts at Bloemfontein in

Ratings of 1200 Points or Higher   1   16-Apr-86   WI     1236 2   25-Nov-86   WI     1225 3   29-Jan-52   AUS    1217 4   03-May-89   WI     1214 4   15-Mar-87   WI     1214 4   06-Jan-01   AUS *  1214 7   06-Jan-02   AUS *  1213 8   28-Feb-51   AUS    1211 9   08-Aug-88   WI     1206 9   06-Mar-50   AUS    1206 11  27-Aug-01   AUS *  1205 12  16-Apr-90   WI     1204 12  07-Feb-89   WI     1204 14  02-Jan-85   WI     1203 15  09-Dec-59   AUS    1202 16  14-Aug-84   WI     1201 17  16-Jan-88   WI     1200 * = Waugh's Australians

February, straight after the one-day competition.  They again face Australia.  Based on this series in Australia, South Africa would seem to be in deep trouble. Latest Ratings:  1. Australia (1213); 2. South Africa (1136); 3. Pakistan (1062); 4. England (1049); 5. India (1028); 6. Sri Lanka (1023); 7. New Zealand (1022); 8. West Indies (1019); 9. Zimbabwe (938); 10. Bangladesh (838 provisional). Other Articles by the Test Cricket Ratings Service

Last Updated: 5 January 2002