England middle-order batter Harry Brook has displaced compatriot Joe Root to take the top position in the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings even as India captain Shubman Gill and South Africa all-rounder Wiaan Mulder have attained career bests in the latest weekly update.
Brook’s solid 158 in the first innings of the second Test against India in Birmingham has helped him reach 886 rating points, 18 more than his fellow Yorkshire player Root, swapping places with him again and ending the former captain’s six-month reign at the top. Brook had earlier been No. 1 for one week in December last year.
The Edgbaston Test though belonged to Gill, who became only the second player in history to register scores of above 150 in both innings of a Test match and the second highest aggregate ever in Tests with 430 runs. His knocks of 269 and 161 have rocketed him 15 places to a career-best sixth position. Gill’s previous best was 14th position which he reached in September last year and he had started this series ranked 23rd.
Other batters to make notable gains after the second Test of the five-match ICC World Test Championship (WTC) series that is now level 1-1 are Ravindra Jadeja, who is up six places to 39th after valuable knocks of 89 and 69 not out, and Jamie Smith, who is in the top 10 for the first time after his solid innings of 184 not out and 88 lifted him 16 slots.
India’s new-ball bowlers Mohammad Siraj and Akash Deep, who had a five-for each, have made huge inroads in the bowling rankings. Siraj’s seven wickets in the match have lifted him six places to 22nd while Akash Deep has galloped 39 places to a career-best 45th position after finishing with a maiden 10-wicket match haul.
Mulder up in all three Test lists: The Bulawayo Test saw a mammoth 367 not out by Mulder, the highest score by a South Africa batter, resulting in a huge rankings reward as he has progressed 34 places to a career-best 22nd position.
His three wickets in the match have also been fruitful in rankings terms as he has moved up four places to 48th among bowlers, but more significantly to a career-best third position among all-rounders, now only behind Jadeja and Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
Mulder, who finished with 531 runs and seven wickets in the two Tests, had started the series ranked 73rd among batters, 58th among bowlers and as the 22nd-ranked all-rounder.
Others to advance from performances at Bulawayo include David Bedingham (up four places to 43rd) and Lhuan-dre Pretorius (up eight places to 60th) among batters and Corbin Bosch (up six places to 51st) among bowlers.
Performances in the second Test between the West Indies and Australia in Grenada have resulted in Cameron Green (up four places to 45th) and Beau Webster (up two places to 50th) gaining in the batting rankings from the visiting side while Roston Chase (up four places to 81st) and Brandon King (up 60 places to 83rd) are the West Indian batters to advance.
The West Indies pair of Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph have both gained six places to reach 29th and 31st positions, respectively, among bowlers.
Kusal Mendis and Hasaranga in top 10 of ODI Rankings: In the Men’s ODI Player Rankings, Sri Lanka’s 2-1 series win over Bangladesh sees their two centurions make gains in the latest update. Charith Asalanka’s 106 in the first match helped him up two slots to sixth place and Kusal Mendis’s 124 in the final match lifted him into the top 10 for the first time.
Sri Lanka’s Janith Liyanage (up seven places to 44th) and Bangladesh’s Towhid Hridoy (up seven places to 51st) are others to move up the batting rankings while Sri Lanka spinner Wanindu Hasaranga is back in the top 10 of the bowling rankings, advancing 11 places to eighth position.
Knight Light
The country with the most losses in International Cricket is England, having played 691 unsuccessful matches. They have also played the most games (1,885).
Scratch
Sunil Gavaskar was out off the first ball of a Test match thrice in his career – Sunil Gavaskar was the first batsman to reach 10,000 Test runs and he ended his career scoring 34 Test centuries. But did you know he was out three times off the first ball of a Test? The bowlers to dismiss him were: Geoff Arnold (Edgbaston, 1974), Malcolm Marshall (Kolkata, 1984) and Imran Khan (Jaipur, 1987).