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Sri Lanka’s feat of drawing the three-match Test series with England 1-1 has seen them move up one place in the ICC Test Championship table. The team captained by Mahela Jayawardene gained two rating points as a result, with a 134-run win at Trent Bridge cancelling out England’s six-wicket win at Edgbaston.

The series stalemate, which also included a drawn first match at Lord’s, has lifted Sri Lanka to 97 points and level with New Zealand, but they move into sixth place when the figures are re-calculated to three decimal places. Sri Lanka are now just four rating points behind fifth-placed South Africa.

For England, the news is not so pleasing. It was the third series in succession since last summer’s Ashes success against Australia that they failed to win and it has cost the side one rating point, seeing them slip to 112.

That means that the gap between England and Australia, who top the ICC Test table, has been extended to 19 points, and it also means that the margin between England and third-placed India is now just one point.

While England now have a run of ODIs ahead of a Test series against Pakistan that starts in July, India can maintain the pressure if they can string together a succession of victories in the ongoing four-Test clash with the West Indies.

Source:The News