From zeros to heroes in five years

England were officially the world's worst Test team in 1999. Now, five years later, they are ranked second with only Australia above them - and the rise has been spectacular, rather than steady.

Test series wins in Pakistan and Sri Lanka during the winter of 2000-2001 suggested that coach Duncan Fletcher and captain Nasser Hussain had made them upwardly mobile.

But it is only this year, under Fletcher and new skipper Michael Vaughan, that England have put together an Aussiestyle sequence of success.

England Test results, year by year from 1999:

1999 v Aus (1), NZ (4), SA (3) W1 L4 D3

2000 v SA (2), Z (2), WI (5), Pak (3) W6 L2 D4

2001 v SL (3), Pak (2), Aus (5), Ind (3) W4 L7 D2

2002 v NZ (3), SL (3), Ind (4), Aus (4) W4 L6 D4

2003 v Aus (1), Z (2), SA (5), B (2), SL (3) W7 L3 D3

2004 v WI (4), v NZ (3), v WI (4), v SA (1) W11 L0 D1