England have climbed to second position in the ICC Test Rankings following their 3-0 clean sweep over Sri Lanka.

Joe Root’s men became the first England side since 1963 to script a 3-0 Test whitewash away from home and have now leapfrogged South Africa to become the No2 ranked team in the world.

England were in third spot behind India and South Africa heading into the series against Sri Lanka and now have a lead of two rating points over the Proteas.

Sri Lanka, who lost all three Tests in a home series for only the third time in their history, have slipped one place in the rankings and now find themselves in seventh spot behind Pakistan.

India continue to maintain their number one status in the team rankings as Virat Kohli’s men get ready to take on Australia in a four-Test series. The Aussies are currently perched in fifth spot in the table but have a chance to make some substantial progress in the coming weeks.

Tim Paine and his men have an outside chance of climbing to the top of the rankings should they blank India 4-0 in the Test series. In such a case, the Aussies will need Pakistan to win or draw at least one Test when they tour South Africa at the end of the year.

However, if Australia whitewash India 4-0 and South Africa manage to blank Pakistan 3-0, then it will be the Proteas who will become the new No1 ranked outfit in the world.

India (120) currently have a 12-point lead over England (108) while South Africa (106), New Zealand (102) and Australia (102) are separated by just four points. Pakistan are some way behind in sixth spot with 95 rating points to their name.