ICC forced to apologise after embarrassing blunder strips Australia of No.1 Test ranking
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been forced to apologise after an embarrassing blunder saw Australia briefly stripped of its world No.1 Test ranking.
Despite being thrashed in the first Test against India in Nagpur, Australia should have still been comfortably atop the latest rankings when they were released on Wednesday.
However, the ICC's website listed India as the top-ranked nation.
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"The ICC acknowledges, for a short period of time on February 15, 2023 that, due to a technical error, India were erroneously displayed as the No.1 Test team on the ICC website," it said in a statement.
"We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
Once the correct rankings were posted, Australia was returned to the No.1 spot, with a rating of 126. India sits in second spot on 115, with England third on 107, followed by South Africa (102) and New Zealand (99).
Pat Cummins remains the top-ranked Test bowler. Getty
India retains the No.1 ranking in both white-ball forms of the game, with Australia ranked second in ODIs and sixth in T20s.
Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith occupy the top two spots in the Test batting rankings, ahead of Babar Azam and Travis Head, while Pat Cummins is the No.1 ranked Test bowler, with Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood at 9th and 10th.
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