Starc Reclaims Number 1 Spot

Three South Africa players are among top five Test all-rounders; Duckett, Fakhar, Rathnayake and Smit gain big in ODIs; Iyer, Duffy move up in T20Is.

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc has reclaimed the top position in the ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings from South Africa all-rounder Marco Jansen following an impressive performance in the third match of their ICC World Test Championship series in Cape Town.

Australia were defeated by 176 runs to lose the series 2-1, but Starc stood out for the visiting team with hauls of six for 72 and three for 65 and displaced Jansen, who had only last week become the No. 1 bowler for the first time.

Player of the Match Simon Harmer’s maiden 10-wicket match haul has helped him move up nine places to seventh, and the off-spinner’s current rating points tally of 817 is the second highest by a South Africa spinner, only behind Hugh Tayfield, who had recorded 895 in February 1957.

Harmer’s effort has also helped him advance three slots to fifth among all-rounders, joining top-ranked Jansen and third-ranked Wiaan Mulder to make it three from South Africa in the top five. India’s Ravindra Jadeja (second) and Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan (fourth) are the others in the list.

In the latest weekly update that also considers performances in the first Test between Bangladesh and the West Indies in Dhaka, spinner Jomel Warrican’s nine-wicket match haul that won him the Player of the Match award after his team’s eight-wicket victory, has helped him advance six places and reach 30th position.

Bangladesh’s Nayeem Hasan (up four places to 47th) and Shoriful Islam (up three places to 54th), and the West Indies’ Roston Chase (up six places to 63rd) are among the others to move up the bowling rankings.

In the Test batting rankings, Mulder’s score of 115 in the second innings has helped him move up seven places to a career-best 17th position while Ryan Rickelton has advanced 25 places to 23rd after supporting him with a knock of 101. Marcques Ackerman’s scores of 95 and 62 have lifted him 129 slots to 69th while Bangladesh’s Shadman Islam has progressed from 67th to 63rd.

In the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings, left-hander Fakhar Zaman’s match-winning 127 in the final of the Pakistan ODI Tri-Series against Sri Lanka in Lahore has helped him gain nine slots and reach 37th position while Pavan Rathnayake, who struck 77 for the losing team after having struck 118 against England in an earlier game, has made a massive 20-slot jump to 16th.

Ben Ducket, who scored 167 off 132 against Sri Lanka has attained a career-best sixth position after gaining one place while Tom Banton’s consistence performances see him reach the top 50 for the first time.

In the ODI bowling rankings, Namibia’s left-arm seam bowler JJ Smit has moved up 44 places and is now joint-30th with India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah after successive four-wicket hauls in the last two matches as their side pulled off a memorable 3-2 series win over Ireland in Windhoek.

The ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings see India captain Shreyas Iyer move up two places to seventh after scoring 50 against New Zealand in Hamilton while New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips (up 13 places to 24th) and Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza (up 12 places to 41st) are others to make notable gains.

Afghanistan player Azmatullah Omarzai’s knock of 116 against Zimbabwe in Sharjah that rescued his side from five for four, has lifted him 34 places to 59th.

Formerly top-ranked Jacob Duffy’s haul of four 23 in Auckland has helped him gain 23 places to reach 23rd position in the list of bowlers.