ENGLAND BID FOR No1 RANKING TAKES A HIT RICHARD GIBSON

ENGLAND’S chances of regaining the world No 1 spot in this year’s Ashes took a major blow with the one-run defeat by New Zealand. Such has been the dramatic upturn in the form of Ben Stokes’s team over the past nine months that they are set to receive an eight-point rankings boost in the annual update on May 1. It would put them just seven behind the top-ranked Aussies, who still have two Tests to play in India.

But had England won yesterday, they would be just three behind Australia and it will now require a comprehensive Ashes victory, plus results elsewhere going England’s way, for them to be world No 1 for just the second time — and the first since 2011.