Australia batter Matt Renshaw has surged from 196th to joint-49th in the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings after a match-winning performance against South Africa in the opener of the three-match ICC World Test Championship Series in Durban.
Renshaw ended a sequence of seven single-figure Test scores in emphatic fashion, scoring 190 and 82 to help Australia secure a commanding 214-run victory at Kingsmead. His performances have propelled him into the top 50, where he shares 49th place with South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton, who slipped 12 places after scores of zero and two in the match.
Aiden Markram has also made significant progress, moving up four places from 14th to return to the top 10 of the batting charts for the first time since October 2019. Markram resisted Australia’s bowling attack for six hours in the second innings, scoring 75 to provide one of the few bright spots for the hosts.
Australia’s Josh Hazlewood was instrumental in sealing victory for his side, taking a career-best six for 49 in South Africa’s second innings. His performance has lifted him two places to seventh in the ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings.
Despite taking three wickets in the match, Mitchell Starc has seen his lead at the top of the bowling rankings cut to just four rating points over New Zealand’s Matt Henry.
South Africa’s Anrich Nortje has returned to the Test Bowling rankings after a three-year absence from the format, entering the bowling rankings in 34th place after taking four wickets in the match.
In Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan and Bangladesh played out a high-scoring draw, with Afghanistan captain Rahmat Shah leading the way with the bat. His unbeaten 105 and 51 in the match have lifted him 13 slots to 13th in the Test Batting Rankings, with 693 rating points – the highest tally ever recorded by an Afghanistan player.
Teammate Sediqullah Atal also made an impression, becoming just the second player to score his maiden first-class century in the fourth innings of a Test. He now sits 91st in the batting rankings, one place ahead of Bangladesh’s Tanzid Hasan, who scored 83 and 31.
Hasan Mahmud has been rewarded for his hat-trick in the same match for Bangladesh, moving up seven places to 38th in the bowlers’ list. Fellow Bangladesh bowler Ebadot Hossain climbed 11 tiles to 67th after taking seven wickets in the match.
The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 tournament in Texas produced several notable movements in the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings following a busy week of action.
Namibia’s Michael van Lingen has climbed 26 places and returned to the top 100 in the batting rankings after successive innings of 124 against the USA and 71 against the UAE.
Nepal captain Rohit Paudel has also broken into the top 100, moving up 13 slots to joint-88th after scoring 101 against Canada and 61 against Oman. His teammate, Gulshan Jha, advanced to 93rd following his contribution of 48 in Nepal’s 24-run victory over Canada.
USA batter Shehan Jayasuriya has made a significant jump after recording three consecutive half-centuries. Scores of 83 and 76 against the UAE and Namibia have lifted him from 149th to 100th in the batting charts.
Among the bowlers, USA’s Saurabh Netravalkar has returned to the top 30, moving to 27th after taking three wickets for 23 in his side’s five-wicket victory over the UAE at Grand Prairie.
Namibia’s JJ Smit has advanced 11 rungs to 79th after taking four for 29 against the UAE, helping bowl them out for 134.
Canada’s Harsh Thaker, who took four for 37 against Oman, and the USA’s Shubham Ranjane, who took four for 39 against the UAE, have also been rewarded for their performances with the ball.
In India, the hosts continue to dominate the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings, with Shreyas Iyer progressing three places to fourth and joining Ishan Kishan (first) and Abhishek Sharma (second) among the top four batters.
West Indies captain Shai Hope has also improved, scoring an unbeaten century in the second T20I in Ranchi to help his side chase down 250 with nine balls to spare. Sherfane Rutherford contributed 84 from 37 deliveries in the same game and has moved up to a career-best 24th in the batting rankings.
Meanwhile, Roston Chase has been rewarded for his all-round performances in that high-scoring series against India. His six wickets have lifted him to 23rd in the ICC Men’s T20I Bowling Rankings and a career-best third in the all-rounders’ list.
In Rawalpindi, Pakistan batter Maaz Sadaqat has made one of the biggest gains of the week after helping his side secure a 2-1 series victory over Sri Lanka. Scores of 50 and 96 in Pakistan’s two wins have propelled him 187 places from outside the top 200 to 45th in the Batting Rankings.
Maaz’s teammate, Salman Mirza has advanced nine places to 14th in the Bowling Rankings after taking two wickets for 28 runs to derail Sri Lanka’s chase in the second match.
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The man considered as the father of cricket is William Gilbert (W.G.) Grace. He played amateur cricket in England and is credited for helping develop the sport into the modern obsession that it has become.
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Sport Trivia: Who was the first cricket umpire to officiate in 200 ODIs? Answer: Rudi Koertzen. Rudi Koertzen officiated his 200th ODI on 11th July 2009. He went on to stand in 206 ODIs, as well as 108 tests, and 14 T20s. His way of dismissing batsmen, by slowly raising his finger, gave him the nickname of \”slow death\”.