England's recent mediocre Test form has seen it fall to third in the ICC's Test Championship table.
Pakistan moved above England after victories against England, India and Sri Lanka and will move within three points of Australia if it can take a clean sweep in its upcoming four-match series against England.
However, England can regain second place from Pakistan if it wins the series.
Since taking the Ashes off the Australians last year, England has suffered a series loss to Pakistan and drawn with India and Sri Lanka.
The new table, which no longer takes into account series completed before August 2003, means that Pakistan's losses to Australia (0-3) and South Africa (0-2) no longer feature in the calculations.
