LONDON, July 9: South Africa have moved above England in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Championship standings on the eve of their four-match series.

Graeme Smith’s men will head into Thursday’s opener at Lord’s in second place in the Reliance Mobile table with England, who had been third, now in fourth place. India have dropped one place from second to third.

The annual update discards series concluded before Aug 1, 2005 and that benefits South Africa because their recent fine form is included while losing series against Sri Lanka, India and England no longer have an effect.

This latest table also takes account of the recent decision to change England’s win by forfeit against Pakistan at The Oval in 2006 into a draw.

South Africa remain 23 points behind clear leaders Australia and a drawn series or better against England would see them stay in second spot.

A 4-0 whitewash for England would see them go second with India third and South Africa fourth.

Were Michael Vaughan’s team to win 2-0, 3-1 or 3-0, that would leave India second, but see England go third, with South Africa fourth.

England and South Africa are closely matched in the player rankings.

Both teams have two batsmen inside the top 20 with Jacques Kallis (sixth) and Smith (12th) keeping company with England’s Kevin Pietersen (10th) and Andrew Strauss (16th).

It is a similar story just beyond the elite where England are represented by Alastair Cook (21st), Paul Collingwood (24th) and captain Michael Vaughan (30th) while A.B. de Villiers (25th) Hashim Amla (26th) and Neil McKenzie (32nd) are South Africa’s three next best batsmen.

In the bowling stakes South Africa quick Dale Steyn is close to toppling Muttiah Muralitharan at the head of the bowling standings. And in fifth place is South Africa’s Makhaya Ntini.

Kallis has retained his place as the world’s leading all-rounder with Flintoff third. New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is in second place.

ICC Test rankings for series completed up to Aug 1 (rank, previous, team, rating, previous):

1 (1) Australia 138 (141)

2 (4) South Africa 115 (109)

3 (2) India 113 (111)

4 (3) England 106 (110)

5 (5) Sri Lanka 103 (106)

6 (5) Pakistan 100 (94)

7 (7) New Zealand 83 (88)

8 (8) West Indies 81 (77)

9 (9) Bangladesh 0 (1)

Notes: Figures in brackets denote positions and ratings of teams prior to the annual update.—AFP