Herath jumps to second position among Test bowlers

Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath has climbed to second position in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers after grabbing his eighth 10-wicket match haul and helping win the one-off Test against Zimbabwe in Colombo by four wickets on Tuesday.

In the latest rankings update, which also includes performances in the second Test between England and South Africa which the latter won by 340 runs at Trent Bridge on Monday to level the four-match series 1-1, Herath has leapfrogged Ravichandran Ashwin to move within 32 points of Ravindra Jadeja, making it a 1-2 for left-arm spinners.

 The 39-year-old Herath, who is the most successful left-arm spinner in Tests with a tally of 384 wickets in 81 matches, finished with a match haul of 11 for 249 in Colombo to move up a list in which England’s James Anderson and Australia’s Josh Hazlewood are the highest ranked pace bowlers in joint-fourth position.

Herath was not the only left-arm spinner to gain in the rankings. South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj’ has moved up 12 slots to 26th position after grabbing six wickets at Trent Bridge. Maharaj now tallies 543 points, the fourth highest by a South Africa spinner since the country’s return to Test cricket in 1992. Paul Harris (705), Paul Adams (588) and Nicky Boje (545) are the only South Africa spinners with higher point tallies in this period.

Zimbabwe captain and leg-spinner Graeme Cremer’s nine wickets in Colombo have helped him gain 20 places to a career-best 53rd slot while Anderson’s seven wickets at Trent Bridge have pushed him up one place from fifth position.

In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, Hashim Amla is back in the top 10, having gained six places to reach seventh position with knocks of 78 and 87 against England, while Zimbabwe batsman Craig Ervine’ (up 20 places to 40th) and Sikandar Raza (up 28 places to 48th) have attained career-best positions after knocking up centuries against Sri Lanka.

For Sri Lanka, player of the match Asela Gunaratne has gained 19 positions to reach a career-high rank of 79th after innings of 45 and 80 not out, which enabled a successful chase after being set a huge target of 388 runs for a win by Zimbabwe.

South Africa all-rounder Vernon Philander has, meanwhile, made a charge back towards the number one spot for all-rounders with a player of the match performance at Trent Bridge. Philander scored 54 and 42 and grabbed five wickets against England to gain two places and reach fifth position in a list led by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 19 July, after the second Test between England and South Africa in Nottingham and the one-off Test between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in Colombo)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts       Avge   Highest Rating

   1       ( - )       Steve Smith      Aus      941!     61.05   941 v Ind at Dharamsala 2017

   2       ( - )       Joe Root           Eng      886       53.57   917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   3       ( - )       K. Williamson    NZ        880       51.16   893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   4       ( - )       C. Pujara          Ind       846       51.32   861 v Aus at Ranchi 2017

   5       ( - )       Virat Kohli         Ind       818       49.41   895 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

   6       ( - )       Q. de Kock       SA        793*    49.03   802 v NZ at Hamilton 2017

   7       (+6)      Hashim Amla    SA        778       49.43   907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   8       (-1)       Azhar Ali           Pak      769       46.86   787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016

   9       (-1)       David Warner    Aus      759       47.42   880 v NZ at Perth 2015

  10      (-1)       Lokesh Rahul    Ind       739*!   44.44   739 v Aus at Dharamsala 2017

Other selected rankings

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts      Avge    Highest Rating

16       (+1)      Faf du Plessis   SA        692      44.78    710 v WI at Port Elizabeth 2014

 40       (+20)    Craig Ervine      Zim       536*!   37.95    536 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2017

 48       (+28)    Sikandar Raza  Zim       497*!   39.42    497 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2017

79       (+19)    A. Gunaratne    SL        371*!   56.87    371 v Zim at Colombo (RPS) 2017

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts      Avge    Highest Rating

   1       ( - )       R. Jadeja          Ind       898      23.12    899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017

   2       (+1)      R. Herath          SL        866      27.72    867 v Zim at Harare 2016

   3       (-1)       R. Ashwin         Ind       865      25.22    904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016

   4=     (+1)      J. Anderson      Eng      826      28.27    884 v SL at Durham 2016

            ( - )       J. Hazlewood    Aus      826      25.39    863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017

   6=     (+1)      Kagiso Rabada  SA        785*    24.09    821 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

            ( - )       Stuart Broad     Eng      785      28.67    880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016

   8       ( - )       Dale Steyn        SA        779      22.30    909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   9       (+1)      V. Philander      SA        767      22.21    912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

  10      (-1)       Neil Wagner      NZ        745      28.90    767 v SA at Dunedin 2017

Other selected rankings

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts      Avge   Highest Rating

21        (+1)      Ben Stokes       Eng      579*    34.78    589 v Ind at Mohali 2016

26        (+12)    K. Maharaj        SA        543*!   25.77    543 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2017

53        (+20)    G. Cremer        Zim       311*!   47.80    311 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2017

61        (+2)      Lahiru Kumara  SL        270*    39.36    276 v SA at Johannesburg 2017

All-rounders (top five)

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts      Highest Rating

   1       ( - )       S. Al Hasan       Ban       431     443 v NZ at Christchurch 2017

   2       ( - )       R. Jadeja          Ind       422!    422 v Aus at Dharamsala 2017

   3       ( - )       R. Ashwin         Ind       413     493 v Eng at Mohali 2016

   4       ( - )       Moeen Ali         Eng      379     384 v SA at Lord’s 2017

   5       (+2)      V. Philander      SA        351     376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014