Root and Smith advance closer to the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings

Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers’ Association

• Broad ends Test career in fourth place in the bowlers list
• Brook enters the top 10 of the batters list for the first time

The latest MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings have seen significant movement following the conclusion of the fifth and final England-Australia Test at The Oval as well as the second Sri Lanka-Pakistan Test in Colombo.  The Ashes ended in a two-all tie after the hosts fought their way back into a winning position in the second half of the series.

England’s Joe Root featured on all three lists, advancing one slot to take second place behind New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, in the batters list with 859 rating points, while sliding up three spaces for 64^th position in the bowlers list (334 points) and moved up one again for his sixth position (286 points) among the all-rounders.

Harry Brook’s 363 runs for England saw him rise to a career-best ninth place from 11^th, with 773 points, his first time in the top ten of the batters list, while his teammates, Jonny Bairstow and Zack Crawley rose to 17^th (from 19^th) and 29^th (from 35^th) with 683 and 618 points respectively. This is Crawley’s personal best ranking and shares his position with Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan, who rose four slots from 33^rd place.

In the top ten for Australia is Steve Smith, whose performances with the bat saw him climb up three places for the third spot with 842 points and opener, Usman Khawaja, who claimed seventh place from eighth, with 796 points.

Pakistan’s batsmen also saw significant gains following their innings and 222-run triumph over Sri Lanka. Abdullah Shafique’s outstanding double century (201 from 326 balls) saw him sail 27 slots to 21^st place, with 657 points, while Agha Salman’s unbeaten 132 off 154 also gave him a remarkable, 23-slot jump to a career-best 35^th from 58^th, with 601 points. He also rose six places to another career-best 33^rd (118 points) in the all-rounders list. Their teammate Shan Masood advanced seven spots to 67^th with 444 points.

The bowlers were equally busy, although none have closed in on Ravichandran Ashwin’s stronghold in first place on 879 points. Stuart Broad ended his Test career on a shinning note, rising four slots to fourth place with 776 points, and finishing in 18^th place in the all-rounders list with 172 points.

Rewards were also earned by his England teammates, Ollie Robinson (6^th from 9^th with 762 points), Mark Wood (career-best 21^st from 23^rd with 640 points) and Chris Woakes (23^rd from 31^st with 624 points). Woakes also entered the top 10 of the all-rounders list after going up one slot from 11^th with 229 rating points, while Wood stepped up to 24^th from 25^th with 149 points. Moeen Ali is just four places below him among the all-rounders in 28^th position after gaining four slots from 32^nd with 130 points.

Mitchell Starc skipped two spots to 12^th (742 points), while Todd Murphy rose nine slots to 57^th and a personal best rating of 330 points in the bowlers list and advanced 20 spots to 60^th in the all-rounders list.

Pakistan’s Naseem Shah went up seven spots to 37^th and 530 points among the bowlers, while his teammate Noman Ali reached a career-best 42^nd place from 55^th (497 points) after taking 7/70 in the second innings of their Test against Sri Lanka. He also rose eight slots to 38^th in the all-rounders list with 100 points.

In the latest MRF Tyres ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings which consider the last two matches between the West Indies and India in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, India emerged the series victors, beating out the hosts 2-1 in the series-deciding third fixture. 

Windies captain, Shai Hope, rose one place to 12^th position in the batters list with 688 rating points, while India’s Ishan Kishan shot up 15 places to a joint 45^th with Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz on 555 points.

In the bowlers list, Kuldeep Yadav jumped eight slots to 14^th place (601 points), while his teammate Shardul Thakur leaped nine slots to joint 33^rd with Mohammad Nawaz from Pakistan on 524 points and in the all-rounders list. Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav sit in joint 42^nd place from 45^th and 50^th respectively with 154 points, they also share the position with Namibia’s Bernard Scholtz.

For more information on player rankings, please click here.

Name of Author: ICC

ICC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body for cricket, founded in 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference. Renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, it became the ICC in 1987. Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, the ICC has 108 member nations.