Dubai, May 28 (IANS) A massive batting display against Zimbabwe helped three England top-order players make big gains in the ICC Men’s Test Batters Rankings, moving within striking distance of the top position.
England veteran Joe Root remains in the No.1 spot on the updated rankings for Test batters, but teammate Harry Brook has closed the gap on him to just 15 rating points following his quickfire innings of 58 in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe in Nottingham.
Root (888 rating points) managed innings of 34 in the same match to maintain his slender advantage at the top, though Brook (873), Kane Williamson (867), Yashasvi Jaiswal (847) and Steve Smith (823) all remain within touch ahead of a busy upcoming period of Test cricket, the ICC said in a report on its official website.
The big winners on the Test batter rankings following the Trent Bridge contest were a trio of England players, with Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, and Zak Crawley all making giant strides up the list following impressive centuries against Zimbabwe.
Duckett gains two places to improve to 13th overall, Pope jumps six spots to 22nd, and Crawley climbs eight rungs to move to equal 33rd ahead of England’s five-match series at home against India that will start their new ICC World Test Championship campaign.
While Zimbabwe fell to an innings and 45-run defeat to England, they will be buoyed by the efforts of Sean Williams and Brian Bennett, who each made some ground on the rankings for Test batters following impressive knocks in the one-off Test.
Pacer Gus Atkinson claimed three wickets for the match and duly jumped one place to 13th overall on the latest rankings for Test bowlers, with England teammate Shoaib Bashir gaining 14 spots to move to 43rd following nine scalps from the same match.
India quick Jasprit Bumrah remains the No.1 ranked Test bowler in the world ahead of his side’s tour of England, while Atkinson also improves one spot to move to seventh overall on the list for Test all-rounders that is headed by Ravindra Jadeja.
There is also some movement on the rankings in white-ball cricket, with West Indies dasher Keacy Carty the big mover up the latest list for ODI batters on the back of his brilliant innings of 170 in the third match of their recent series against Ireland.
Carty improves 20 places to 16th mainly due to this knock, while Ireland’s counterpart, Andrew Balbirnie, gains eight spots to move to 48th following a century in the series opener in Dublin.
There are also some gains on the list for ODI bowlers for USA quick Saurabh Netravalkar, who climbs four rungs to 22nd overall after some strong displays with the ball during the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 competition.
–IANS
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