The Proteas losing their No 1 status in Test cricket to Australia has caused somewhat of an uproar among South African cricket fans.
According to Sport 24, prior to South Africa's home Test series against Australia earlier this year, it was widely reported that the hosts would not lose their No 1 status even if they came unstuck in the three-Test series.
Australia duly won the series 2-1 to move past India into second spot, but still trailed South Africa (127 points) by 12 ratings points.
Now, South Africa finds itself ranked second, because as of May 1, a new two-year cycle in the ICC rankings has started, which saw results from the 2010/11 season dropped from the calculation. Also, results from the 2012/13 season are now reduced to a weighting of 50 percent.
This has enabled Australia to gain eight ratings points to move up from 115 to 123, while South Africa dropped from 127 to be level on 123, but Australia are ahead by a fraction of a point.
The Proteas had outstanding 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons when they won six of the seven Test series they played. They beat Sri Lanka (2-1), New Zealand (1-0), England (2-0), Australia (1-0), New Zealand (2-0) and Pakistan (3-0). However, as these series are now only weighted at 50 percent, South Africa dropped four ratings points.
Australia's recent 5-0 Ashes drubbing of England counted heavily in their favour, as did the 2-1 victory in South Africa in February/March this year.
South Africa had held the No 1 position since August 2012, while Australia were last on top of the Test pile in August 2009.
South Africa's next Test assignment is two-Test series away to Sri Lanka in July. Only a victory in that series would see them return to the top.
Australia are next on Test duty when they play two Tests against Pakistan in the UAE in October.
