Pakistan retain top T20 ranking after ICC error

In this file photo, Pakistan’s cricket team members pose for photographs with the trophy after winning the third and final T20 cricket match against Sri Lanka, at the Qaddafi Cricket Stadium, in Lahore, on Oct. 29, 2017. (AFP)

WELLINGTON: Australian cricket chiefs have clarified that Pakistan still tops the Twenty20 world rankings, despite Australia’s victory in the T20 tri-series also featuring New Zealand and England.
Cricket Australia said this week that Australia would take the number one spot if they were unbeaten in the tri-series, a feat they achieved with a 19-run win over New Zealand in Auckland on Wednesday.
But in a statement late Thursday, it said a “clerical error” by the International Cricket Council meant the calculation was wrong and Pakistan retain the number one ranking.
When rating points were rounded off, it said, Australia were second on 125.65, 0.19 points behind Pakistan on 125.84.
It means Australia have still not been rated the number one T20 side in the world since the shortest form of the game began in 2011.
Australia are currently ranked third in Tests and fifth in one-dayers.