ICC Media Release
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – James Anderson, Joe Root and Gary Ballance have achieved career-best rankings in the Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings after inspiring England to a nine-wicket victory over the West Indies in the second Test, which concluded in St George’s, Gernada, on Saturday.
Anderson returned figures of two for 47 and four for 43 for which he has been rewarded with a jump of three places and puts him alongside Australia’s Ryan Harris in second position. This is Anderson’s career-best ranking to date, while his rating of 826 is also his Test best.
Root not only won the player of the match award for his 182 not out but has also been rewarded with a jump of five places that has put him in a career-best fifth position. At 865 ratings points, he is also enjoying his career-high rating with fourth-ranked Steven Smith firmly within his sights.
Ballance is the other England player to achieve a career-high ranking. His scores of 77 and 81 not out have pushed him up five places to 17th in the latest rankings, which were released on Sunday morning.
Other batsmen to make gains include Alastair Cook 27th (up by two places), Marlon Samuels 28th (up by three places), Darren Bravo 32nd (up by two places) and Kraigg Brathwaite 34th (up by eight places).
The batting table is headed by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangkkara, with South Africa team-mates AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla sitting second and third, respectively.
Bangladesh v Pakistan
Pakistan will be aiming to change its fortunes when it goes head to head with Bangladesh in a two-Test series in Khulna from Tuesday. Pakistan is sitting in fourth position on 103 ratings points while Bangladesh is in ninth spot on 32 ratings points.
This gap of 71 ratings points means Pakistan is expected to win the series convincingly, and because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, failure to win comfortably will mean Misbah-ul-Haq’s side will drop points.
If the series ends in a draw, then Pakistan will drop to 99 ratings points while Bangladesh will finish on 37 ratings, and Pakistan will plummet to 96 ratings points if Bangladesh wins the series 1-0.
If Pakistan wins the series 1-0, it will concede one ratings point while it will gain only one ratings point if it wins both the Tests.
To find out exactly how the forthcoming series will affect the rankings table, please click here. The Test rankings table, unlike the ODI and T20I rankings tables, is updated after each match.
In the Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings, Pakistan boasts two batsmen inside the top 10. They are Younus Khan (eighth) and Misbah (10th), while Bangladesh’s highest-ranked batsman is Mominul Haque in 25th spot.
Saeed Ajmal (11th) and Junaid Khan (16th) are the Pakistan bowlers inside the 20 while Shakib Al Hasan in 13th position is not only Bangladesh’s highest-ranked bowler but is also the world’s leading all-rounder.
