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Cape Town - The Proteas have dropped two places - from third to fifth - in the latest ICC T20I team rankings.
The move follows the ICC's annual update which was carried out on May 1 to ensure that the table continues to reflect the recent form of sides.
South Africa conceded six points in their slide, but the do remain a single point ahead of Australia in sixth.
England, meanwhile, shot up three places to second while New Zealand remain top.
Eoin Morgan’s side are four points behind the Black Caps, who are on 125 points after dropping two points.
India, the ICC World Twenty20 2007 champions, also lost ground following the annual update after dropping six points to slip to fourth position. They are now on 118 points, three points behind ICC World Twenty20 2009 winners Pakistan, who joined England on 121 points after gaining five points but are ranked behind the ICC World Twenty20 2010 winners by a fraction of a point.
Australia have swapped places with reigning ICC World Twenty20 champions, the West Indies, who are 14 points ahead of the 2014 winners and eighth-ranked Sri Lanka (95 points, down by four).
Bangladesh are ranked 10th on 78 points after gaining four points, while Zimbabwe have retained their 12th rank after gaining three points.
Among the non-Test playing sides, Afghanistan and the Netherlands have moved in opposite directions. Afghanistan is the side to benefit most after England as they gained six points and climbing to 90. But while Afghanistan has strengthened their ninth position, the Netherlands have dropped nine points to slip one place to 14th rank.
Scotland are in 11th spot on 67 points (up by four), followed by the UAE in 13th (52, up by four), Netherlands in 14th (49, down by nine), Hong Kong in 15th (46, up by three), PNG in 16th (39, down by four), Oman in 17th (38, down by one) and Ireland in 18th (36, down by four).
Australia and the next nine highest-ranked sides on the ICC T20I Team rankings will qualify automatically for the ICC World Twenty20 2020 which will be staged in Australia. The bottom eight sides on the team rankings will get a second chance to qualify for the seventh edition of the tournament when they will join the regional qualifiers in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2019. Six sides will qualify from the qualifier to complete the 16-team line-up.
ICC T20I Team rankings :
1. New Zealand 125
2. England 121
3. Pakistan 121
4. India 118
5. South Africa 111
6. Australia 110
7. West Indies 109
8. Sri Lanka 95
9. Afghanistan 90
10. Bangladesh 78
11. Scotland 67
12. Zimbabwe 65
13. UAE 52
14. Netherlands 49
15. Hong Kong 46
16. PNG 39
17. Oman 38
18. Ireland 36
