Steve Smith’s valiant 92 in the first innings at Lord’s has helped him gain one spot and close in on top-ranked Virat Kohli in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings.
The Australia batsman has overtaken New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and is now only nine points behind Kohli, but the India captain will get a chance to consolidate his position in the two-Test series in the West Indies starting Thursday.
Marnus Labuschagne, who batted in the second innings as Smith withdrew on being concussed, has also moved up 16 places to 82nd position after scoring a determined 59 that helped draw the second Test to ensure Australia retained a 1-0 lead in the five-match series that kicked off the ICC World Test Championship.
Travis Head, who advanced two places to 18th after an unbeaten 42 in the second innings, is another Australia batsman to move up the rankings while Pat Cummins has gained one place to reach fifth position in the all-rounders’ list.
For England, player of the match Ben Stokes has moved up six places to 26th after scores of 13 and 115 not out at Lord’s while wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow (up seven places to 30th), left-handed opener Rory Burns (up 17 places to 64th) and all-rounder Chris Woakes (up two places to 68th) have also moved up the rankings for batsmen.
Stuart Broad and Woakes have both gained two places in the bowlers’ list, moving up to 14th and 27th places, respectively, with four and three wickets in the match. Left-arm spinner Jack Leach’s four wickets have lifted him from 48th to 40th position while Jofra Archer has entered the rankings in 83rd place after finishing with five wickets in his debut Test.
Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne’s player of the match effort of 39 and 122 at Galle has not only helped his team take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series with a six-wicket win but has also helped the opener move up four places to 8th position.
Former captain Angelo Mathews (up three places to 14th) and wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella (up five places to 33rd) have also moved up in the batting rankings while spinner Akila Dananjaya (up nine places to 36th) has made major gains among bowlers.
For New Zealand, left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel has advanced 14 slots to take 61st position after finishing with six wickets in Galle, including a five-wicket haul in the first innings.
Meanwhile, India could lose their top position in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings as even a 1-0 loss to the West Indies in their upcoming seires will see them slip to 108 points. That margin will be enough for the West Indies to overtake Pakistan to seventh position at 88 points.
Series scenarios:
India win 2-0 – India 115 points, West Indies 80 points
India win 1-0 – India 114, West Indies 82
West Indies win 1-0 – India 108, West Indies 88
West Indies win 2-0 - India 106, West Indies 90
MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings (as of 19 August, before the West Indies-India series):
Rank Team Points
1 India 113
2 New Zealand 111
3 South Africa 108
4 England 105
5 Australia 98
6 Sri Lanka 94
7 Pakistan 84
8 West Indies 82
9 Bangladesh 65
10 Zimbabwe 16
*Afghanistan and Ireland have Test status but have not played enough matches to figure on the rankings table
(Developed by David Kendix)
MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 19 August after the Galle and Lord’s Tests)
Batsmen (top 10)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
1 ( - ) Virat Kohli India 922 53.76 937 v Eng at Southampton 2018
2 (+1) Steve Smith Australia 913 63.24 947 v SA at Durban 2018
3 (-1) K Williamson New Zealand 887 52.50 915 v Ban at Hamilton 2019
4 ( - ) C Pujara India 881 51.18 888 v SL at Nagpur 2017
5 ( - ) Henry Nicholls New Zealand 770 45.08 778 v Ban at Wellington 2019
6 (+2) Aiden Markram South Africa 719* 43.80 759 v Aus at Johannesburg 2018
7 (+2) Q de Kock South Africa 718 39.31 802 v NZ at Hamilton 2017
8 (+4) D Karunaratne Sri Lanka 716 36.82 754 v SA at Colombo (SSC) 2018
9 (-3) Joe Root England 710 48.34 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
10 ( - ) Faf du Plessis South Africa 702 42.95 734 v India at Centurion 2018
Other selected rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
14 (+3) A Mathews Sri Lanka 674 45.05 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014
18 (+2) Travis Head Australia 657*! 49.87 657 v Eng at Lord's 2019
26 (+6) Ben Stokes England 625 34.75 664 v WI at Lord's 2017
30 (+7) Jonny Bairstow England 593 36.12 772 v SA at Old Trafford 2017
33 (+5) N Dickwella Sri Lanka 582! 30.67 582 v NZ at Galle 2019
64 (+17) Rory Burns England 465*! 29.88 465 v Aus at Lord's 2019
68 (+2) Chris Woakes England 448 30.56 496 v India at Lord's 2018
82 (+16) M Labuschagne Australia 404*! 29.88 404 v Eng at Lord's 2019
Bowlers (top 10)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
1 ( - ) Pat Cummins Australia 914! 21.32 914 v Eng at Lord's 2019
2 ( - ) Kagiso Rabada South Africa 851 21.77 902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018
3 ( - ) J Anderson England 823 26.94 903 v India at Lord's 2018
4 ( - ) V Philander South Africa 813 21.64 912 v India at Johannesburg 2013
5 (+1) R Jadeja India 794 23.68 899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017
6 (-1) Neil Wagner New Zealand 793 27.51 801 v Ban at Wellington 2019
7 ( - ) Trent Boult New Zealand 785 27.53 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015
8= ( - ) Jason Holder West Indies 770* 27.69 778 v Eng at Antigua 2019
( - ) M Abbas Pakistan 770* 18.86 838 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2018
10 ( - ) R Ashwin India 763 25.43 904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016
Other selected rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
14 (+2) Stuart Broad England 721 28.74 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
27 (+2) Chris Woakes England 602* 30.57 609 v Pak at The Oval 2016
36 (+9) A Dananjaya Sri Lanka 479*! 24.81 479 v NZ at Galle 2019
40 (+8) Jack Leach England 422*! 24.16 422 v Aus at Lord's 2019
61 (+14) Ajaz Patel New Zealand 285*! 33.10 285 v SL at Galle 2019
69= (+11) L Embuldeniya Sri Lanka 247*! 32.30 247 v NZ at Galle 2019
77= (+5) D de Silva Sri Lanka 212*! 47.16 212 v NZ at Galle 2019
83 (NEW) Jofra Archer England 185*! 18.20 185 v Aus at Lord's 2019
All-rounders (top five)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Highest Rating
1 ( - ) Jason Holder West Indies 439/* 448 v Eng at Antigua 2019
2 ( - ) S Al Hasan Bangladesh 399 489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017
3 ( - ) R Jadeja India 387 438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017
4 ( - ) Ben Stokes England 367 395 v WI at Lord's 2017
5 (+1) Pat Cummins Australia 339*/! 339 v Eng at Lord's 2019
* indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.
! indicates career-highest rating
