FAQs
How have the ratings system changed?
How does it compare with other systems?
Has the current ICC Championship copied the Ford & Son table?
Why do you get the points you do for each result?
Why do the away team get 10% added to their run rate?
What do you do with teams that gain test status?
What did you do with South Africa when they were banned?
What do you mean by Standardised scores?
Could you email me the formula?
Have you got ratings for one day internationals?
My Dad fascinated by cricket and statistics wondered who the best cricket team in the world were. So at the age of 10 he develops the first Test Cricket Table. In those days there was an average of three series a year and he kept all the records in a special book.
How have the ratings system changed?
The first change that happened was the weighting of each series. When Dad initiated the system nearly every series was a long affair of 4, 5 or even 6 matches. So it was only right that there was a straight split 50/50 in terms of previous score and score gained from series. With the advent of air travel and more and more short series, it didn’t seem right that a teams score could wildly fluctuate after playing just one match.
The second major change was to change the scoring system for matches. Dad had always used 10 for a home win, 14 for an away win and 2 for an away draw. This meant that if you won a 5 match series 3-2 at home you still just gained point advantage. But as I put all his figures onto computer and worked out the averages for home and away wins, it seemed more accurate to have scores of 10, 12 and 2.
The third change involved taking into account the toss. Surely you should score more points if you win a game having lost the toss. Well, this is more difficult to prove, but the point scores were adjusted +/- 0.25 to reflect winning or losing the toss.
The next change was to look at the affect the run rates were having on the score. One of the beauties of this rating system is that the run rate diminishes in importance the more games are played. After looking at the average home and away run rates I saw that the home side averaged 10% more than the away team. Hence the away run rate is increased by 10%
How does it compare with other systems?
The ICC championship as it was, was slow moving – if you went into a series having won the previous time – you could only lose ground. If you won the first three matches in a five test series – who cared about the last two?
It didn’’t take into account ‘goal difference’ – beating someone by an innings and 241 runs fared no better than a tight 2 wicket scrape home!
Its basis was the best team over five years – but what about the BEST TEAM NOW!
We were pleased that the Ford & Son Test Cricket Ratings was the answer – every wicket of every match of every series counted towards a team’s current score. “The ICC Test Championship may have been official – but this one is brilliant! Its totally current, yet has been going since the very first test match after the second world war!
But now the ICC Championship has totally changed… in fact you could say it looks a little bit like ours…
Has the current ICC Championship copied the Ford & Son table?
We couldn’t possibly comment – See their rules
Why do you get the points you do for each result?
The half point variation in home win scores reflects the greater achievement of winning a test match if you’ve lost the toss.
From 1946 to 2000 I totalled the number of matches played, the number of home and away wins. Giving scores of 10, 12 and 2 (I didn’t have records of tosses for the whole period) made the home and away teams get the closest score possible
A similar exercise was done with run-rates.
Why do the away team get 10% added to their run rate?
Because on average, all other things being equal it is more difficult to score runs away from home.
What do you do with teams that gain test status?
Perhaps the most difficult point to consider. In 1946 there were 6 test playing nations. These were each given a starting score of 50. The other nations have been given scores retrospectively to reflect their first few results. For example Bangladesh were given a score of 15 to start with. If they had been given a score of 50 then India being the first team to play Bangladesh would have had a huge advantage.
Pakistan played first series in Oct 1952 against India – Pakistan started with a score of 25
Sri Lanka played first series in Feb 1982 against England – Sri Lanka began with a score of 30
Zimbabwe played first series in Oct 1992 against India – Zimbabwe began with a score of 25
Bangladesh played first series in Nov 2000 against India – Bangladesh began with a score of 15
What did you do with South Africa when they were banned?
South Africa began a 20 year exclusion from International Sport in 1973. At this stage they were right at the top of the table but they were no longer playing. I decided to take 20 points off their score. This meant that all the other teams standardised scores increased.
What do you mean by Standardised scores?
Up until South Africa’s exclusion from the game the total points of all the teams totalled 395. (This included the preset scores for Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. So to give a fair reflection of how well each team is doing – it was decided to standardise the scores. This meant multiplying every score by 500/395. Since South Africa’s exclusion the team scores have totalled 375 and the scores have likewise been standardised. This means that the scores can be compared from 1946 through to the modern day
How did your Dad feel when you changed the formula and it meant he had to go through all the results by hand to change them?
I’d rather not say!
Could you e-mail me the formula?
I can, drop me a line at simon@testratings.co.uk
Because after the war cricket started being played at test level once more. This was a break of some years and it made sense to give everyone a fresh start!
Have you got ratings for one day internationals?
Old answer… No, with the sheer number of one day internationals played and the number where there are no obvious home and away teams. (It is difficult enough when Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka played the Asian championship, which included matches in neutral venues. Add to that the problems of series, three nation series, groups, super sixes, 5 match finals.) HOWEVER now I have… And its worked out in an ingenious way! But it is so difficult to keep up to date – so this answer has reverted back to ‘no’!