Caribbean chaos costly for England

Australia will leapfrog Ashes rivals England in the official ICC Test team rankings if they can sweep Sri Lanka in the current Domain Test series.

England's horror Test campaign in the West Indies, where they have surrendered the Wisden Trophy with two massive defeats, means a victory to the Australians in the second Test in Canberra will see them move into the fourth and England slip to fifth in the Test team rankings.

Even if England win the third and final Test in St Lucia, Australia will jump ahead of their arch-rivals as long as they defeat Sri Lanka at Manuka Oval.

And if the maiden Test in Canberra ends in a draw – rain is forecast for Monday and Tuesday – Australia can still advance in the rankings if the Windies complete a 3-0 series whitewash.

The only way England can remain in fourth spot is to win the third Test in the Caribbean and Australia fail to win in the nation's capital.

But given the disastrous form of Joe Root's side, a victory in St Lucia looks about as likely as a Sri Lankan triumph in Canberra.

England were thrashed by 381 runs in the first Test in in Bridgetown, where they were bowled out for 77 in their first innings, before suffering a humbling 10-wicket defeat in Antigua overnight.

The result also has implications for the prize money both sides can collect when the ICC doles out the cash at the annual April 1 rankings cut-off date. The ICC pays out for the top four ranked men's Test nations, with Australia and England jostling for the US$100,000 prize for fourth spot. India will collect the US$1m prize purse for being the top-ranked nation.

Once the respective Test series in Australia and the Caribbean conclude the focus turns to white-ball cricket ahead of the World Cup in the UK.

But after the World Cup, the Ashes will be staged in England where Australia will be looking to retain the urn they won 4-0 at home in 2017-18.

England do have one Test before the Ashes – the historic inaugural clash against Ireland at Lord's from July 24, before the first Test against Australia in Birmingham starting August 1.

Australia will warm-up with a comprehensive red-ball tour for the Australia A side, culminating in a first-class clash between Australia and Australia A at Hampshire's Rose Bowl on July 23-26.