Dubai: Veteran England pacer James Anderson displaced Australia captain Pat Cummins to become the No.1 ranked bowler in the latest ICC Men’s Test Rankings, released on Wednesday after finishing with seven wickets in the first Test against New Zealand that helped his side win by 267 runs, last week.
Anderson, who has grabbed the top spot in the Men’s Test Player Rankings for the sixth time in his career, first became No. 1 in May 2016 and was last at the top in November 2018 before being overtaken by South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada.
Anderson’s rise to the top at the spritely age of 40 years and 207 days also means he is the oldest bowler to hold the top ranking since Australian great Clarrie Grimmett did so back in 1936.
However, his lead at the top is very slender, with Ashwin remaining in second place on a total of 864 rating points and just two rating points behind the England pacer.
Meanwhile, Cummins, who had been at the top since February 2019, drops to third on 858 rating points, but could still regain top billing with some strong performances during Australia’s ongoing Test series against India.
While the shakeup at the top of the Test bowler charts is the highlight of a big week of change on the rankings, there are also plenty of players on the move in other categories.
England batters Ollie Pope (up six places to 23rd), Harry Brook (up 12 places to 31st) and Ben Duckett (up 13 places to 38th) have achieved career-best rankings, as have New Zealand’s Tom Blundell and Devon Conway. Blundell’s first innings knock of 138 has lifted him four places to 11th while Conway’s 77 has helped him move up five places to 17th.
India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has progressed seven places to ninth after his 10-wicket match haul in the second Test in Delhi, the first time that he is in the top 10 since September 2019.
His spin partner Ravichandran Ashwin has moved to second place while other India spinner Axar Patel who is the second leading run-scorer for the series thus far with 158 runs – is also rewarded by moving up two places to fifth overall on the latest Test all-rounder rankings.
Australia’s Nathan Lyon has gained two places to reach 15th after finishing with seven wickets in the match, which his team lost by six wickets.
There are some movements in the ODI rankings too after matches of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2. Scotland’s George Munsey has gained seven spots to reach 39th position among batters while Nepal’s RK Paudel has progressed from 76th to 67th. In the bowling rankings, Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane is up 12 places to 31st while Scotland seam bowler Safyaan Sharif is up from 51st to 45th.
In the Men’s T20I Rankings, updated after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) versus Afghanistan series, Muhammad Waseem of the UAE is up six places to seventh position even as Sri Lanka spinner Wanindu Hasaranga is back to No. 1 with Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan slipping behind him.
(IANS)
