LONDON, England (CMC):
West Indies and Jamaican batsman Jermaine Blackwood jumped six spots to 41st in the International Cricket Council (ICC) world batting rankings after hammering an aggressive unbeaten 79 in the first innings of their opening Test match against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham last week.
Blackwood was playing his first Test in 10 months after being left out for the Pakistan series.
However, the fallout from Windies’ humbling innings defeat at the weekend has continued, with several of the Caribbean players falling in the rankings.
Roston Chase, who entered the contest at Edgbaston on a high following heavy run-scoring against Pakistan last May, fell seven spots in the batting rankings to 32nd, while opener Kraigg Brathwaite dropped three spots to 30th.
The right-handed Chase managed scores of 0 and 24, while Brathwaite scored 0 and 40 as West Indies went down by an innings and 209 runs inside three days in the day/night encounter.
Captain Jason Holder, whose stock as a genuine all-rounder has risen in recent times, tumbled 10 places and is now ranked 61st.
In the bowling rankings, there was more bad news for the Windies as 20-year-old speedster Alzarri Joseph lost 11 places to drop to 77th while seamer Holder also fell four spots to 39th.
Neither impressed at Edgbaston, with Joseph going wicket-less and Holder claiming a single victim in England’s massive first innings of 514 for eight declared.
Chase, who grabbed four wickets with his part-time off-spin, climbed four places to 73rd.
Australia’s Steve Smith leads an unchanged top five in the batting while India’s Ravindra Jadeja heads an unchanged top five in the bowling rankings.
