England’s star bowler, Jofra Archer has leaped 16 slots to reach a career-best third place in the latest update of the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings after fine spells in England’s lost series against South Africa.
Though South Africa won the series 2-1, their first ODI series victory in England since 1998, Archer’s return to play and form was as dazzling as his team had hoped it would be. He took successive hauls of four for 62 and four for 18 in the second and third matches, the latter taking place in a historic win for England when they beat the visitors by a record 342 runs in Southampton.
Archer’s rise to third place in the rankings beats his previous highest position of eighth which he last reached in September 2020.
His teammate Adil Rashid is the only other bowler to make significant gains in the bowlers list this week. He climbed seven slots to eighth place after his overall series haul of eight wickets at 9.00 runs each and 4.07 runs per over were rewarded with his own personal best rise in the rankings since 2017.
South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj retains his position at the top of the Bowling Rankings after taking two wickets each in the second and third matches at Lord’s and Southampton.
Joe Root showed he still has a lot to offer as his innings of 61 and 100 in the second and third matches saw him make a return to the top 20 of the ICC Men’s ODI Batting Rankings. He jumped five slots to 19th place, moving into the top 20 for the first time in two years.
His fellow countryman, Jos Buttler’s innings of 62 and 61 not out saw him jump seven places to 35th with South Africa’s Matthew Breetzke rocketing up 44 slots to 64th after becoming the first player to pass fifty in each of his first five ODI innings.
England’s Jacob Bethell is just one place behind him in 65th place after making his own 56-slot dash.
Pakistan emerged victorious in the 2025 United Arab Emirates T20I Tri-Nation Series against host, the UAE and Afghanistan, seeing rewards in gains in the ICC Men’s T20I Rankings for some of their star players in the series.
Leading run-scorer Fakhar Zaman progressed nine places to 68th in the Batting Rankings while wrist-spinners Sufiyan Muqeem (up seven slots to 15th in the world) and Abrar Ahmed, who is up 39 slots to joint-27th after figures of four for nine against the UAE and two for 17 against Afghanistan, also saw success.
Shaheen Shah Afridi was rewarded a four-slot rise to 22nd place, while his teammate and Player of the Series, Mohammad Nawaz swung 13 places to 30th among the bowlers after lighting up the final against Afghanistan with a five-wicket haul (five for 19) which included a hat-trick, ending the tournament with career-best rating points of 563.
Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad rocketed 40 slots to joint 33rd.
Sri Lanka’s Kusal Perera rose three places to ninth after his unbeaten half-century against Zimbabwe in Harare and Sikandar Raza rounds off this week’s update with a three-slot rise to fourth in the ICC Men’s T20I All Rounders Rankings.
Hov
Sport Trivia: Which was the first Olympic Games in which Ghana competed as an independent nation? Answer: Rome 1960 – Having competed in Helsinki in 1952 as Gold Coast, Ghana did not send a team to the 1956 Games in Melbourne. By the time the 1960 Games came around, the country had achieved full independence from Great Britain, (in 1957) and was officially known as Ghana.
Curio
The All Blacks are one of the most successful teams in sporting history – The New Zealand All Blacks are one of the most successful teams in sporting history. Since 1903 when they played their first ever game, they have a win percentage of 78% in nearly 600 games. That stat is absolutely crazy when you think about it. They’ve also won 3 Rugby World Cups (though arguably should have won all of them apart from 1991 and 2003). They were also the first rugby team to win 500 test matches, one of many records establishing the All Blacks the world’s best team. Can you imagine winning 78% of all your games you play!?