West Indies move above New Zealand after Zimbabwe series win

West Indies' 1-0 series win in Zimbabwe this week has moved it up to joint fourth place, alongside Sri Lanka, in the ICC Test Championship table. Carl Hooper's team overtake New Zealand by improving its points per series average to 1.00, ahead of the Clear Black Caps' average of 0.93. West Indies won the first Test in Bulawayo by the convincing margin of an innings and 176 runs, while the second match in Harare ended in a draw as bad weather curtailed play on the last day. The team from the Caribbean required 302 runs to win and Zimbabwe nine wickets to square the series. The match will long be remembered for the historic debut century from Zimbabwe's 17 year old Hamilton Masakadza, an innings that puts him into the record books as the youngest player to score a century on his Test debut. At the conclusion of the second Test victorious Windies captain Hooper was presented with the Clive Lloyd trophy, introduced at the start of this series, and which will be played for in all future series between the teams.

The updated Championship table shows:

ICC Test Championship Table, August 2001

The series was the first played between the teams in Zimbabwe, thereby adding to the totals played by each side in the ICC Test Championship. Zimbabwe has now completed 14 of a possible 18 series, and West Indies 13.

The next update to the Championship table will take place at the conclusion of the npower Ashes series in England in August.

About the ICC Test Championship

Two points are allocated for winning a series and one for a drawn rubber. The result -and points allocationof all future series will replace the previous equivalent.

At present, an average score per series (number of points won divided by number of series played) has been allocated to determine the top side, because not all teams have played each other home and away. This transitional arrangement will change to a straight points system when all teams have played each other home and away, in 2005.

The Championship has been introduced to add interest, context and excitement to the game at the highest level. It will run on a rolling league basis, with the system used for calculating positions based on the results of the most recent series (a minimum of two Test series applies), home and away, between each of the teams.

The adoption of a co-ordinated 10 year calendar of future tours by all ICC members has created the long term structure on which to base the Championship.

Media contact:

Mark Harrison
ICC Communications Manager
Tel: + 44 20 7266 7913/1818
Mobile: 0787 944 1891
Email: mark.harrison@icc.cricket.org