Dubai: England’s James Anderson has topped the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers for the first time in his career after bowling his side to a nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second Test at Chester-le-Street on Monday.
Anderson took three for 36 and five for 58, and, in doing so, has leapfrogged team-mate Stuart Broad and India’s Ravichandran Ashwin into the coveted number-one position. He now leads Broad by 15 points and Ashwin by 13 points.
For his efforts that also fetched him the man of the match award, Anderson has earned 30 points. This means in the two Tests against Sri Lanka, the 33-year-old Lancastrian has collected 79 points and has gained four spots in the rankings.
Anderson is the fourth England bowler to top the bowlers’ table since Ian Botham first achieved this feat in 1980. Steve Harmison stormed up the chart in 2004, while Broad vaulted to the number-one position earlier this year following the Johannesburg Test against South Africa.
Broad, who took five wickets in the Test, has slipped behind Ashwin to third place after conceding three points.
Other bowlers to improve their rankings post the Chester-le-Street Test are Nuwan Pradeep (43rd, up by five places), Milinda Siriwardana (50th, up by 13 places) and Chris Woakes (73rd, up by 16 places).
In the batting table, England’s Moeen Ali has achieved a career-high ranking.
The left-handed batsman scored 155 not out, his career-best score in 25 Tests, which helped England to declare its first innings at 498 for nine. For this achievement, Ali has earned 82 points that has lifted him 12 places to a career-high 35th position in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen.
Opener Alex Hales has also continued to head in the right direction. After scoring 83 and 11, the 27-year-old batsman has moved up nine places to 70th. In the past two Tests, Hales has claimed 47 places and looks strong to gain further spots as he is still in the qualification period. A batsman qualifies for a full rating after he has played 40 Test innings, while Hales has so far batted in only 11 Test innings.
Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal, who scored 126 in the second innings, has moved up one place to 19th, while Nick Compton is now in 67th spot after rising one place.
Alastair Cook, who became the first England batsman to complete 10,000 Test runs while scoring 47 not out in the second innings, has retained his 15thposition.
Australia captain Steve Smith is the number-one ranked Test batsman, followed by Joe Root of England and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.
In the all-rounders’ list, Ali has gained one place and is now sixth, just one point behind team-mate Ben Stokes. Ashwin is the number-one ranked all-rounder.
The Test player rankings will now be updated after the Lord’s Test.
MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 31 May, after Chester-le-Street Test)
Batsmen (top 10)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) Steve Smith Aus 925 60.18 936 v Eng at Lord's 2015
2 ( - ) Joe Root Eng 878 54.46 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
3 ( - ) Kane Williamson NZ 868 49.23 893 v Aus at Perth 2015
4 ( - ) Hashim Amla SA 860 51.45 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
5 ( - ) Younus Khan Pak 826 53.94 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
6 ( - ) AB de Villiers SA 818 50.46 935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014
7 ( - ) Adam Voges Aus 811*! 95.50 811 v NZ at Christchurch 2016
8 ( - ) David Warner Aus 800 50.06 880 v NZ at Perth 2015
9 ( - ) Angelo Mathews SL 784 49.25 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014
10 ( - ) Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 764 48.89 842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014
Other selected rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge HS Rating
15 ( - ) Alastair Cook Eng 710 46.49 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
19 (+1) D. Chandimal SL 674 45.18 690 v NZ at Dunedin 2015
21 ( - ) Jonny Bairstow Eng 644 35.69 646 v SL at Headingley 2016
35 (+12) Moeen Ali Eng 558! 31.54 558 v SL at Durham 2016
37 (-2) D. Karunaratne SL 541 33.28 619 v WI at Galle 2015
44 ( - ) Kaushal Silva SL 508 31.29 638 v Pak at Colombo (PSS) 2015
55 (-5) M. Siriwardana SL 435* 33.11 463 v NZ at Hamilton 2015
67 (+1) Nick Compton Eng 364* 30.20 443 v NZ at Wellington 2013
68 (-2) L. Thirimanne SL 358 24.16 386 v Ind at Colombo (PSS) 2015
70 (+9) Alex Hales Eng 351*! 28.72 351 v SL at Durham 2016
Bowlers (top 10)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge HS Rating
1 (+2) James Anderson Eng 884! 28.33 884 v SL at Durham 2016
2 ( - ) R. Ashwin Ind 871! 25.39 871 v SA at Delhi 2015
3 (-2) Stuart Broad Eng 869 28.37 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
4 ( - ) Yasir Shah Pak 846*! 24.17 846 v Eng at Sharjah 2015
5 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 841 22.53 909 v WI at Centurion 2014
6 ( - ) Ravindra Jadeja Ind 789*! 23.76 789 v SA at Delhi 2015
7 ( - ) Trent Boult NZ 757 29.14 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015
8 ( - ) Josh Hazlewood Aus 741* 25.77 792 v WI at Hobart 2015
9 ( - ) Morne Morkel SA 724 29.33 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
10 ( - ) Vernon Philander SA 717 22.08 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013
Other selected rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge HS Rating
13 (-2) Rangana Herath SL 679 30.11 851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014
21 (-2) Steven Finn Eng 578 28.55 624 v NZ at Headingley 2013
28 (-3) Moeen Ali Eng 481* 40.65 557 v SA at Durban 2015
40 (-5) Shaminda Eranga SL 387* 37.45 541 v Eng at Headingley 2014
43 (+5) Nuwan Pradeep SL 374*! 45.27 374 v Eng at Durham 2016
44 (-3) D. Chameera SL 373* 27.28 377 v Eng at Headingley 2016
47 (-1) Suranga Lakmal SL 355* 49.62 363 v NZ at Wellington 2015
50 (+13) M. Siriwardana SL 327*! 23.36 327 v Eng at Durham 2016
73 (+16) Chris Woakes Eng 179*! 47.84 179 v SL at Durham 2016
All-rounders (top five)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Rating
1 ( - ) R. Ashwin Ind 406 419 v WI at Mumbai 2013
2 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 384 419 v Zim at Khulna 2014
3 ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 294 382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012
4 ( - ) Vernon Philander SA 275*/ 376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014
5 (-1) Ben Stokes Eng 269 /* 276 v SA at Centurion 2016
