India superstar, Virat Kohli has advanced two slots to second place on the batters’ list in the latest ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings. He is just eight points behind teammate Rohit Sharma who continues to uphold his number one position.
The move up the rankings comes after exceptional performances in the recently concluded three-match ODI series against South Africa where Kohli’s scores of 135, 102 and 65 not out helped his team to a 2-1 series win. He was named Player of the Series for his 302 runs across the three fixtures.
Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock scored centuries in the second and third matches respectively and both moved up to 25th and 13th places respectively, while their skipper, Temba Bavuma went up three places to 37th.
Kuldeep Yadav’s four for 41 in the decisive third ODI also contributed to the series win for his team and advanced him to third place in the bowling table, up three places.
In the ICC World Test Championship, Joe Root’s first century in Australia enabled him to hold on to the top spot in the batters’ list with 781 rating points, but Harry Brook fell two places to fourth – now behind Kane Williamson in second place (827 points) and Steve Smith (823 points) in third.
Five Australians scored half-centuries in their first innings of the Brisbane win, with the biggest strides coming from Mitchell Starc whose 77 lifted him up 12 places to 90th, and Jake Weatherald rocketed 75 places to joint-106th after innings of 72 and 17 not out.
Zak Crawley returned to the top 50 batters after a first-innings 76, but Jamie Smith dropped 12 places to 31st after scores of none and four.
The West Indian fourth-innings rearguard was the highlight of the Christchurch Test as Justin Greaves struck an unbeaten double-century at number six to gain 16 places to a career-best 60th. He was well supported by Shai Hope, whose 140 moved him up 19 places to 48th and
Kemar Roach – whose unbeaten 58 occupied four and a half hours at the crease, enabled him to gain six places to 127th. He had a fine all-round match, taking five of the eight New Zealand wickets to fall in their second innings to bring himself back into the top 20 bowlers at number 18.
New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra’s 176 moved him back into the top 15 with the bat, and Tom Latham hit 145 to gain six places to 34th.
Mitchell Starc’s fine pink-ball performance which saw him take six wickets for 75 in England’s first innings, advanced him three slots in the bowlers’ list to a career-best third place and one slot to fifth in the all-rounders’ list.
Michael Neser – the first man whose first three Test match appearances have all been day-night affairs – took five wickets for 42 in England’s second innings to re-enter the bowling charts at number 52.
Jacob Duffy was the standout BLACKCAPS bowler, taking five for 39 in the West Indies’ first innings to help him up 76 places to joint-63rd
The ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings also saw movements after the first encounter of the five-match series between India and South Africa in Cuttack on Tuesday, where India served up a comprehensive, 101-run victory over the visitors.
Dewald Brevis moved into the top 10 among the batters, advancing three slots to eighth place after his 22-run knock.
India’s Hardik Pandya progressed three places to fourth in the all-rounders’ list with Axar Patel moving to ninth (from 10th) on the same list and 13th (from 15th) among the bowlers.
In the bowlers’ list, Arshdeep Singh went up three slots to 20th and Jasprit Bumrah jumped six spaces to 25th.
Dr. Wmd
Manufacturing rugby balls caused a very unusual and tragic death – In rugby’s early days, Richard Lindon’s leather shop was in high demand for balls. He enlisted the help of his wife Rebecca, but she tragically passed away due to the germs she ingested from the bladders while blowing them up. Lindon searched for an alternative to pig’s bladders from that point onward.
Sherm
Sport Trivia: Where did Naas Botha play his first test match for South Africa? Answer: Wanderers – Naas Botha was selected to play for South Africa at Rugby Union after playing for the SA Under 20 squad. He made his debut against South America on 26 April 1980 at the Wanderers Stadium, recognised as a cricket ground. This was due to the fact that Ellis Park had been demolished in 1979 to be rebuilt.