Q: If not, then which team will be on top?
A: Five years is a long time. It is not that Australia will come down. But some of the teams catch up with them. RSA for brief had displaced them from the top. So South Africa is a real contender to be at the top. Pietersen has revived English cricket. Now they are a force to reckon with. With Ajantha Mendis in their line up, Sri Lanka is a formidable force. India is on the rise, as well. Consistent performance can help to the top of the rankings. In the next few years, players like Ponting, Hayden, Lee etc will make way for the younger cricketers. Hayden will be 37 next month (Oct 29) Ponting will celebrate his 34th birthday anniversary on Dec 19 Michael Hussey is 33, now Lee will be 32 in Nov And most of Australia's prominent cricketers are on the wrong side of 30's; Like Haddin, Hodge, Katich, Symonds etc. So Australia will be having a lot more new players in 5 years time. Needs to be seen how they will cope with international cricket.