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New Zealand just a win away from leapfrogging Pakistan into fifth position in ICC Test Rankings

jeetu

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The six centurions from the recently concluded Test matches in Johannesburg and Wellington have been rewarded with impressive movements in the latest MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, which were released on Tuesday morning.

South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who while scoring 134 became the eighth batsman to score a century in his 100th Test, has jumped four places to claim sixth position, while JP Duminy, who scored 155 and added 292 runs for the third wicket with Amla, has vaulted nine places to secure a career-high 33rd position.

Captain Faf du Plessis and Dean Elgar, who won the player of the series award, finished in joint-21st position.

Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, who was one of South Africa’s stars in its ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2014 triumph, stole the bowling limelight when he returned figures of three for 44 and two for 50. For this performance, he has earned a rise of three places which has puts him in fifth position in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers.

Radaba is now South Africa’s highest-ranked bowler, one place ahead of Dale Steyn who missed the series due to an injury. Rabada leads Steyn by two points and trails Sri Lanka’s fourth-ranked spinner Rangana Herath by six points.

For Sri Lanka, the only good news is the rise of fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep, who has leaped six places to a career-best 33rd spot following figures of four for 78 in South Africa’s only innings.

South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by an innings and 118 runs in Johannesburg, which gave it a 3-0 series win. The result means third-ranked South Africa has gained four points and has moved up to 107 points, two behind Australia, while seventh-ranked Sri Lanka has dropped four points to finish on 92 points.

The Wellington Test produced some exceptional batting performances from both the sides and these have been duly recognised in the latest Test player rankings.

Shakib Al Hasan, who scored 217 (highest individual score by a Bangladesh batsman in Test cricket) has achieved a career-high ranking of 23rd after jumping eight places, while captain Mushfiqur Rahim, who scored 159 and put on 359 runs for the fifth wicket with Shakib, has risen 10 places to claim 35th position.

New Zealand’s 539-run response to Bangladesh’s 595-8d revolved around left-handed opener Tom Latham who scored 177. This performance is notable in the latest rankings as he has climbed five places to 31st.

After New Zealand was set a victory target of 217 runs, captain Kane Williamson stroked an undefeated 104 to help his side romp home with seven wickets to spare. For this achievement, fourth-ranked Williamson has earned 29 points which has put him just two points shy of third-ranked Joe Root. If Williamson performs strongly at the Hagley Oval, then he will potentially return to number-three ranking.

Although the Test team rankings are updated at the end of a series, New Zealand has placed itself nicely to move ahead of Pakistan in team rankings. However, to make it happen, it will have to win the Christchurch Test which starts on Friday.

If New Zealand wins the Test, then it will move one point ahead of Pakistan, while in case of a draw, it will join Pakistan on 97 points but will be behind by a fraction of a point.

ICC Test Team Rankings

[table=width: 500, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Rank [/td][td]Team [/td][td]Matches [/td][td]Points [/td][td]Rating [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]1 [/td][td]India [/td][td]35 [/td][td]4208 [/td][td]120 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2 [/td][td]Australia [/td][td]44 [/td][td]4797 [/td][td]109 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3 [/td][td]South Africa [/td][td]33 [/td][td]3528 [/td][td]107 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]4 [/td][td]England [/td][td]50 [/td][td]5071 [/td][td]101 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]5 [/td][td]Pakistan [/td][td]36 [/td][td]3494 [/td][td]97 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]6 [/td][td]New Zealand [/td][td]38 [/td][td]3666 [/td][td]96 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]7 [/td][td]Sri Lanka [/td][td]39 [/td][td]3578 [/td][td]92 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]8 [/td][td]West Indies [/td][td]30 [/td][td]2077 [/td][td]69 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]9 [/td][td]Bangladesh [/td][td]15 [/td][td]978 [/td][td]65 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]10 [/td][td]Zimbabwe [/td][td]10 [/td][td]48 [/td][td]5 [/td][/tr]
[/table]
 
Test Batting
[table=width: 500, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Pos [/td][td]Rat [/td][td]Name [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]1 [/td][td]933 [/td][td]Steve Smith [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2 [/td][td]875 [/td][td]Virat Kohli [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3 [/td][td]848 [/td][td]Joe Root [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]4 [/td][td]846 [/td][td]Kane Williamson [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]5 [/td][td]812 [/td][td]David Warner [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]6 [/td][td]787 [/td][td]Hashim Amla [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]7 [/td][td]779 [/td][td]Azhar Ali [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]8 [/td][td]772 [/td][td]Younus Khan [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]9 [/td][td]760 [/td][td]Quinton de Kock [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]10 [/td][td]755 [/td][td]AB de Villiers [/td][/tr]
[tr][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]11 [/td][td]747 [/td][td]Usman Khawaja [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]12 [/td][td]739 [/td][td]Cheteshwar Pujara [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]13 [/td][td]731 [/td][td]Jonny Bairstow [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]14 [/td][td]720 [/td][td]Alastair Cook [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]15 [/td][td]717 [/td][td]Ajinkya Rahane [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]16 [/td][td]703 [/td][td]Ross Taylor [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]17 [/td][td]702 [/td][td]Angelo Mathews [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]18 [/td][td]696 [/td][td]Adam Voges [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]19 [/td][td]677 [/td][td]Kraigg Brathwaite [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]20 [/td][td]666 [/td][td]Tamim Iqbal [/td][/tr]
[tr][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]24 [/td][td]651 [/td][td]Asad Shafiq [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]25 [/td][td]647 [/td][td]Sarfraz Ahmed [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]26 [/td][td]645 [/td][td]Misbah-ul-Haq [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]43 [/td][td]543 [/td][td]Mohammad Hafeez [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]67 [/td][td]422 [/td][td]Sami Aslam [/td][/tr]
[/table]
 
Test Bowling

[table=width: 500, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Pos [/td][td]Rat [/td][td]Name [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]1 [/td][td]887 [/td][td]Ravichandran Ashwin [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2 [/td][td]879 [/td][td]Ravindra Jadeja [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3 [/td][td]860 [/td][td]Josh Hazlewood [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]4 [/td][td]827 [/td][td]Rangana Herath [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]5 [/td][td]821 [/td][td]Kagiso Rabada [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]6 [/td][td]819 [/td][td]Dale Steyn [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]7 [/td][td]810 [/td][td]James Anderson [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]8 [/td][td]803 [/td][td]Stuart Broad [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]9 [/td][td]798 [/td][td]Vernon Philander [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]10 [/td][td]770 [/td][td]Mitchell Starc [/td][/tr]
[tr][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]11 [/td][td]758 [/td][td]Neil Wagner [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]12 [/td][td]718 [/td][td]Trent Boult [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]13 [/td][td]680 [/td][td]Tim Southee [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]14 [/td][td]668 [/td][td]Morne Morkel [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]15 [/td][td]661 [/td][td]Shakib Al Hasan [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]16 [/td][td]652 [/td][td]Dilruwan Perera [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]17 [/td][td]649 [/td][td]Yasir Shah [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]18 [/td][td]606 [/td][td]Nathan Lyon [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]19 [/td][td]583 [/td][td]Mohammad Shami [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]20 [/td][td]579 [/td][td]Wahab Riaz [/td][/tr]
[tr][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]32 [/td][td]486 [/td][td]Rahat Ali [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]38 [/td][td]433 [/td][td]Zulfiqar Babar [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]46 [/td][td]371 [/td][td]Imran Khan [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]50 [/td][td]342 [/td][td]Sohail Khan [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]56 [/td][td]297 [/td][td]Mohammad Amir [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]93 [/td][td]118 [/td][td]Mohammad Nawaz [/td][/tr]
[/table]
 
Goes to show how underrated Wahab is in this format. He's almost as good as Yasir Shah despite latter cashing in on friendly pitches.

Also critical to note that Wahab takes on the main batsmen of the opposition team (Warner, Smith etc.) and seriously troubles them while other bowlers keep bowling on 6th stump content with economical figures and "looking good".
 
It is just that "away" phase where Pakistan are bound to fall in rankings. Once they are back in Asia, Pakistan will climb up back to #3 or #4.
 
The 'best Test spinner in the world' languishing at #17. :)))
 
Time to look at other leg spinners in country. YS form has declined alarmingly or can we say he has been finally sorted out at Intl level.
 
The 'best Test opener (the legend) in the world' languishing at #14. :)))

He was poor in India, but there is no clear number one Test opener right now. Some would say Azhar, but it is too early. Warner was brilliant at Melbourne and Sydney but failed badly vs South Africa.

Ashwin however is clearly the number one spinner in Test cricket and has no serious competition at the moment. Yasir was never better than him.
 
He was poor in India, but there is no clear number one Test opener right now. Some would say Azhar, but it is too early. Warner was brilliant at Melbourne and Sydney but failed badly vs South Africa.

Ashwin however is clearly the number one spinner in Test cricket and has no serious competition at the moment. Yasir was never better than him.

Let Ashwin bowl outside India more before making any claims.
 
He was poor in India, but there is no clear number one Test opener right now. Some would say Azhar, but it is too early. Warner was brilliant at Melbourne and Sydney but failed badly vs South Africa.

Ashwin however is clearly the number one spinner in Test cricket and has no serious competition at the moment. Yasir was never better than him.

Azhar is the best opener in the world. Without a doubt. Yasir is the best leg-spinner in the world. Not the best spinner.
 
The 'best Test spinner in the world' languishing at #17. :)))

Interestingly, Ashwin's rating in Tests after the 2015 Australia tour was roughly 650 (Yasir 649 right now) and his average after 24 Tests was nearing 31 (Yasir 31.5 right now).

However, Yasir has had a worse tour of Australia than Ashwin did and how he bounces back from this disappointment will be key for him to once again be rated as one of the best spinners in the world.
 
New Zealand looking good so far and on target to leapfrog Pakistan for 5th position in a few days time.
 
Interestingly, Ashwin's rating in Tests after the 2015 Australia tour was roughly 650 (Yasir 649 right now) and his average after 24 Tests was nearing 31 (Yasir 31.5 right now).

However, Yasir has had a worse tour of Australia than Ashwin did and how he bounces back from this disappointment will be key for him to once again be rated as one of the best spinners in the world.

Good observation, but there are a couple of reasons that make Ashwin's stats look worse -

1) The country where both the spinner's stats took a beating was Australia, and after their first 24 Tests, Ashwin had played twice as many matches there (6 compared to 3 for Yasir).
2) Ashwin's rating kept falling because India played 4 straight series in SA, England, NZ and Australia. Yasir on the other hand had a breather with that 3 test series against WI in UAE, so the rating didn't fall as steeply.
 
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