England woes compounded by drop to 27-year low in rankings as Stokes era begins

England have won just one Test match in the last 12 months, with new captain Ben Stokes taking over a struggling side

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Stokes relishing responsibility of England captaincy

England have dropped to sixth place in the ICC Test rankings, falling to their lowest points rating in 27 years.

Having failed to win any of their last five Test series, England have unsurprisingly dropped one spot in the rankings, getting leapfrogged by Pakistan. The fall leaves new captain Ben Stokes tasked with transforming a side with an overall rating of just 88 points – their lowest since 1995.

England dropped a total of nine points since the last annual update, having won just one Test match in the last twelve months. Australia remain the number one ranked side, nine points ahead of second-placed India, while New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan round out the top five.

Reflecting on England’s recent struggles in Test cricket, Stokes admitted performances have “not been good enough” and that arresting their struggles “won’t happen overnight”.

He said: “Being completely realistic, winning one game in 17 is nowhere near good enough for the people we have in our team.

“We can look at that and go there is only one to go, which is up. We have not been good enough.

“That is not a dig at any individual as I have been part of that. As a team we know we have not been good enough, not played to the standard we know we can.

“It’s about understanding that and fixing it but we need to understand things won’t happen overnight. I can’t just expect it to click and all of a sudden we are No 1 in a year’s time.”

Meanwhile, Eoin Morgan’s sides remain second in both the ODI and T20I rankings. They are just one point behind first-placed New Zealand in ODIs and five points behind India in T20Is.