Steve Smith goes past Kane Williamson to enter top 3 in ICC Test rankings for batters

Australian batter Steve Smith has overtaken New Zealand captain Kane Williamson to move up to the no.3 position in the latest ICC Test Ranking for batters. While Smith registered scores of 67 and 23 in the Sydney Test, Williamson is currently out of action due to a recurring elbow injury.

South African captain Dean Elgar has climbed four places and entered the top 10 following his match-winning knock of 96* against India in Johannesburg. There is no movement in the top two spots in the ICC Test batting rankings. Marnus Labuschagne remains at no.1 with 924 points. He scored 28 and 29 in Sydney while England captain Joe Root, who occupies the no.2 slot, registered scores of 0 and 24.

Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne moved up one place to no.6, pushing Australian opener David Warner down to no.7. Indian stars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have retained their no.5 and no.9 positions respectively in the ICC Test batting rankings.

Looking at gainers from outside the top 10, Australian left-hander Usman Khawaja re-entered the ICC Test batting rankings at no.26 following a stellar comeback. Khawaja hammered 137 and 101* in the Sydney Test against England on Test recall.

Also, following the second New Zealand-Bangladesh Test, Liton Das moved up 17 places to 15th and Devon Conway 18 places to 29th.

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Kyle Jamieson makes major gains in ICC Test rankings for bowlers

Among bowlers, New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson jumped eight places and now occupies third spot in the updated ICC Test rankings for bowlers. Jamieson registered match figures of 6 for 114 in the Christchurch Test against Bangladesh.

South African pacer Kagiso Rabada claimed six wickets in the Wanderers Test against India. He is now in fifth position, replacing James Anderson. Australia’s Pat Cummins and India’s Ravichandran Ashwin retain the top two spots.

Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridia and Hasan Ali, New Zealand’s Tim Southee and Neil Wagner as well as Australia’s Josh Hazlewood are the notable names in the top 10 of the ICC Test rankings for bowlers.

Outside of the top 10, Bangladesh’s Ebadot Hossain moved 17 places to 88th place while Shoriful Islam jumped 34 places to 104th. Both Hossain and Islam claimed two wickets each in the Christchurch Test.