Misbah to receive ICC Test mace on Sept 21 in Lahore

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The International Cricket Council (ICC) will present the Test mace to Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on September 21.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson will make the presentation at 10:30am (PST), which will be followed by a media conference at 11:00am (PST), icc-cricket.com reported on Friday.

Pakistan achieved number-one Test ranking for the first time since the current rankings system was introduced in 2003 after it played a two-all draw against England.

Pakistan’s cause was also helped by Sri Lanka, which defeated Australia by 3-0, while a wet ground in Port of Spain denied India the opportunity to defend the top spot as it won its four-Test series against the West Indies by 2-0.

Pakistan is currently sitting on 111 points, one ahead of India, while Australia and England are on 108 points each. The top seven Test sides are separated by just 16 points.

The current Test ranking known as the ICC Test Championship encapsulates top 10 Test nations.

Since the introduction of the current ranking system, Australia (number one in three stretches totaling 81 months or over 51 percent of the time), South Africa (thrice, totaling 42 months) and India (twice, totaling 21 months) have primarily outshone.

Pakistan, however, featured as a top team for only two months nearly three decades ago. In the 1952-2003 period, Pakistan was retrospectively rated the top side during August-September 1988.

The ICC recently applied its current rating system to results going back to 1952, prior to which the data available is deemed insufficient for calculation purposes due to the infrequency of matches and the small number of competing teams.