Photo Credit: Oman Cricket
Oman veteran and skipper Zeeshan Maqsood, who in May had entered the top-five rankings of ICC ODI all-rounders, moved into the exclusive top-three club on Wednesday.
According to latest rankings from world cricket body (ICC), Maqsood achieved a career-best No.3 rankings for ODI all-rounders following his half-century and a wicket in the opening match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe.
Oman had stunned Test-playing Ireland in their opening Group B match in Bulawayo on June 19 with the skipper playing a key role to win the player of the match award.
He moved one place up, and is behind only Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan and Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi.
Al Hasan has 367 rating points while Nabi has 305. Maqsood has garnered 262 and is followed by Afghanistan’s captain Rashid Khan with 261. Papua New Guinea’s Assad Vala and Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza are joint fifth with 248 points each.
The 35-year old Maqsood is Oman’s long-serving skipper and is a left-handed batter and left-arm orthodox bowler. This is the first time that an Omani cricketer has scaled such heights. He also made progress in ODI batters rankings as he rose six places from 65th to 59th and also gained five places to reach 40th in the bowlers’ rankings.
Root takes over as World No. 1 batter
Joe Root’s 30th Test century and a second-innings 46 in the first Ashes Test has given him the crown of the world’s No. 1 Test batter in the latest ICC rankings update on Wednesday. Marnus Labuschagne, who was the top-ranked batter before the Ashes began, dropped two places to the third position following scores of 0 and 13 in Edgbaston.
Labuschagne wasn’t the only Australian who dropped places. Travis Head slipped from third to fourth despite a fifty in the first innings, while Steven Smith slid from second to sixth after ordinary scores in both the innings of the opening Test. Kane Williamson, who hasn’t played a Test since March 2023 and is out with an ACL injury, climbs up to No. 2 as a result.
Another batter to make gains within the top 10 is Player of the Match Usman Khawaja, progressing two places to seventh position after smashing 141 and 65 in the Ashes opener.
While each of England’s three seamers are in the top ten of the Test rankings for bowlers, Ollie Robinson has breached the top five with his match haul of 5 for 98 against Australia.
James Anderson stays at No. 2, behind R Ashwin, while Stuart Broad maintains his position at nine alongside Ravindra Jadeja.
Pat Cummins slipped from third to fourth despite his four-wicket haul in England’s second innings, and that pushed South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada back to No. 3. Nathan Lyon moved one position up to No. 6 following his match haul of eight wickets.
Saurabh Netravalkar’s four wickets in the ongoing ODI World Cup qualifiers have given a maiden entry for a USA player into the top 20 of the ICC rankings for ODI bowlers. He climbed five places to No. 18. Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Siraj and Mitchell Starc remain as the top three.
The ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings sees notable gains for Oman batters: Aqib Ilyas, who rose four places to 51st, along with Kashyap Prajapati who is up five places to 91st.
Name of Author: Oman Cricket
The Oman Cricket Board, officially known as Oman Cricket, is the governing body for cricket in Oman, headquartered in Muscat. It represents Oman in the International Cricket Council, having achieved affiliate status in 2000 and associate membership in 2014. The board is also a member of the Asian Cricket Council.
