Dubai, July 31: Impressive performances against West Indies in the recent Test series, enabled former England skipper and batting mainstay Joe Root to reclaim the top spot in the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings.
Root scored 87 in the first innings of the third and final match of the Test match against West Indies in Birmingham, which his side won by 10 wickets to complete a 3-0 series win, revealed an ICC communiqué on Wednesday.
This is Root’s ninth stint as No 1 Test batter. His first tenure at the top of the rankings commenced in August 2015 and he was last at the top in June last year after a fine performance in the opening match of the Ashes series, also in Birmingham.
While Root overtook Kane Williamson to take the top spot, Babar Azam, Daryl Mitchell, Steve Smith and Rohit Sharma have all gained a spot each as Harry Brook slipped to seventh position after attaining a career-best third position last week.
In the weekly update to the rankings that also takes into consideration performances in the Ireland versus Zimbabwe Test in Belfast, England captain Ben Stokes, who struck 54 in the first innings in Birmingham and a quickfire 57 not out off 28 balls in the second, has moved up four positions to 30th in the batting rankings.
Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams has re-entered the rankings in 33rd position after scores of 35 and 40, England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith’s knock of 95 has lifted him 31 places to 64th position while West Indies batter Kavem Hodge is up three places to 72nd.
England fast bowler Mark Wood’s Player of the Match performance of two for 52 and five for 40 has lifted him into the top 20 of the bowling rankings for the first time in his career.
Jayden Seales of the West Indies (up seven places to a career-best 26th position), Gus Atkinson of England (up four places to 46th), Blessing Muzarabani of Zimbabwe (re-entered in 50th position) and Mark Adair of Ireland (up three places to 63rd) are other notable gainers in the bowling rankings.
In the Men’s T20I Rankings, India opener Yashwasi Jaiswal is back at number four after aggregating 80 runs in the three-match series against Sri Lanka which his side won 3-0.
Shubman Gill has moved up 16 places to a career-best 21st position, while the Sri Lanka pair of Pathum Nissanka (up 11 places to 15th) and Kusal Perera (up 40 places to joint-63rd) are others to move up the batting rankings.
India leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who has been ranked number one in the past, is back in the top 10 while Arshdeep Singh (up four places to 19th) and Washington Sundar (up six places to 40th) have also made inroads.
The ODI Rankings see Oman players Aqib Ilyas (up five places to 58th among batters) and Kaleemullah (up 11 places to 50th among bowlers) move up the rankings while Scotland’s Richard Berrington is up seven places to 59th among batters after performances in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2, the ICC communiqué added.
