New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has retired in 19th position in the latest MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings. This is after he gained two places following scores of 145 and 25. McCullum’s career-high Test batting ranking was 12th, which he had achieved against Sri Lanka after the Christchurch Test in December 2014.

New Zealand’s BJ Watling is the other player to make an improvement. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored 58 and 46 to move up four places to 31st, two points ahead of Burns.

Meanwhile Joe Burns, who won the player of the match award in the Christchurch Test, has stormed up the batting charts in the latest MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings, which were released today.

Burns scored 170 and 65 as Australia won by seven wickets to surge to the top of the ICC Test rankings. For this performance, Burns has gained 26 places to claim a career-high 32ndposition.

Adam Voges has also made an upward movement following scores of 60 and 10 not out. He has moved up two places to a career-high seventh. 

Australia captain Steve Smith, who started in number-one position on 901 points, has gained 24 points following scores of 138 and 53 not out. He has now opened up a 36-point gap with Kane Williamson, who scored 97 in the second innings.

In the bowlers’ rankings, Neil Wagner of New Zealand and Australia’s James Pattinson have broken into the top 20 for the first time in their careers.

Wagner has jumped four places to 18th after taking six for 106 and one for 60, while Pattinson’s two for 81 and four for 77 have helped him rise two places to 19th. The two bowlers are now separated by 16 points.

Inside the top 10, Trent Boult of New Zealand and Australia’s Josh Hazlewood have swapped places. Boult is now seventh after claiming three wickets in the match, while Hazlewood has slipped one place after also taking three wickets.

The bowlers’ list is headed by England’s Stuart Broad.

MRF TYRES ICC TEST PLAYER RANKINGS (as of 26 February, following New Zealand and Australia Test series)

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     889      54.93    917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   3     ( - )    K. 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     (+1)    Younus Khan    Pak     826      53.94    880 v SL at Lahore 2009

   6     (+1)    AB de Villiers    SA     818      50.46    935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

   7     (+2)    Adam Voges    Aus     811*!     95.50    811 v NZ at Christchurch 2016

   8     ( - )    Angelo Mathews    SL     808      50.18    877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014

   9     (-4)    David Warner    Aus     800      50.06    880 v NZ at Perth 2015

  10     ( - )    Misbah-ul-Haq    Pak     764      48.89    842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014

Other selected rankings

Rank     (+/-)    Player        Team    Pts    Ave    HS Rating

  15     (-1)    Ross Taylor    NZ     715      45.49    871 v WI at Hamilton 2013

  19     (+2)    B. McCullum    NZ     680      38.64    760 v SL at Christchurch 2014

  27     ( - )    Usman Khawaja    Aus     608*     49.54    613 v NZ at Wellington 2016

  31     (+4)    BJ Watling    NZ     577      37.35    644 v Eng at Headingley 2015

  32     (+26)    Joe Burns    Aus     575*!     49.29    575 v NZ at Christchurch 2016

  35     (-4)    Tom Latham    NZ     570*     38.00    590 v SL at Dunedin 2015

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank     (+/-)    Player        Team    Pts    Avge    Econ    HS Rating

   1     ( - )    Stuart Broad    Eng     872      28.66    880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016

   2     ( - )    R. Ashwin    Ind     871!     25.39    871 v SA at Delhi 2015

   3     ( - )    Yasir Shah    Pak     846*!     24.17    846 v Eng at Sharjah 2015

   4     ( - )    Dale Steyn    SA     841      22.53    909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   5     ( - )    James Anderson    Eng     805      29.18    847 v WI at Barbados 2015

   6     ( - )    Ravindra Jadeja    Ind     789*!     23.76    789 v SA at Delhi 2015

   7     (+1)    Trent Boult    NZ     757      29.14    825 v Eng at Lord's 2015

   8     (-1)    Josh Hazlewood    Aus     741*     25.77    792 v WI at Hobart 2015

   9     (+1)    Morne Morkel    SA     724      29.33    776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

  10     (+1)    Vernon Philander    SA     717      22.08    912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

Other selected rankings

Rank     (+/-)    Player        Team    Pts    Avge    Econ    HS Rating

  12     (-3)    Tim Southee    NZ     703      32.12    799 v WI at Jamaica 2014

  13     ( - )    Nathan Lyon    Aus     690      32.87    696 v NZ at Wellington 2016

  15     ( - )    Peter Siddle    Aus     621      29.88    816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013

  18     (+4)    Neil Wagner    NZ     607*!     32.43    607 v Aus at Christchurch 2016

  19    (+2)    James Pattinson    Aus     591*!     26.15    591 v NZ at Christchurch 2016

  36     (-1)    Doug Bracewell    NZ     414*     38.05    538 v WI at Jamaica 2012

  39     (-1)    Mark Craig    NZ     401*     45.56    405 v Aus at Wellington 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     310    382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012

   4     ( - )    Ben Stokes    Eng     276 /*!    276 v SA at Centurion 2016

   5     ( - )    Vernon Philander    SA     275*/     376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014