The New Zealand cricket team climbed to the top of the World Test Championship standings following their brilliant victory of 281 runs over South Africa on Wednesday. The inaugural WTC champions bolstered their chances of featuring in their second final next year with a well-rounded performance against South Africa in the first Test at Mount Maunganui. The Kiwis leapfrogged the finalists of the previous WTC final—India and Australia—and moved to the summit of the rankings with a 66.66 percent point percentage.
In the current cycle of the WTC, New Zealand has played only three Test games. They drew the two-match Test series against Bangladesh and registered a victory over South Africa.
After the end of the first test between the two teams, Australia moved to the second, and India dropped to the third. The defeat forced South Africa to settle on the seventh spot, with Bangladesh (4), Pakistan (5), and the West Indies (6) ahead of them.