Dubai: Australia captain Steven Smith has led the batsmen’s charge in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen following the conclusion of Boxing Day Tests.

New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets in Christchurch, while Australia and India Test in Melbourne and South Africa and West Indies Test in Port Elizabeth ended in draws.

Smith, who scored a Test best 192 in the first innings, has gained two places to claim fifth spot for the first time in his career. He now trails number-one ranked AB de Villiers, who has regained the top spot from Kumar Sangakkara, by 40 ratings points.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and Virat Kohli are the other batsmen inside the top 20 to make upward movements. McCullum, who scored 195, has achieved a career-best 12th position by climbing two places. Kohli’s contributions of 169 and 54 have earned him four places and has put him in 15th place.

Also moving in the right direction are Chris Rogers of Australia (24th, up by four places), Ajinkya Rahane (26th, up by 15 places), Kraigg Brathwaite (37th, up by 11 places), Marlon Samuels (37th, up by seven places) and Dean Elgar (50th, up by 13 places).

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, Australia’s Ryan Harris has moved up two places to second following his six wickets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), while Trent Boult has achieved a best-ever ranking of seventh after rising two places. Boult had figures of three for 25 and four for 100.

Bowler outside the top 20 and moving in the right direction include Neil Wagner (22nd, up by two places), Umesh Yadav (36th, up by eight places), Mohammad Shami (38th, up by eight places), Josh Hazlewood (53rd, up by 16 places) and Imran Tahir (58th, up by six places).

Dale Steyn has retained his number-one ranking and is ahead of Harris by 54 ratings points.

There is no change to the top five in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test All-Rounders. Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh leads the field, followed by Vernon Philander of South Africa and India’s Ravichandran Ashwin.

Meanwhile, South Africa is just a draw away from retaining the Reliance ICC Test Championship mace and with it winning a cash award of USD500,000. If South Africa draws the Cape Town Test and Australia wins in Sydney, then South Africa will finish on 122 ratings points, compared to Australia’s 119 ratings points.

However, if the West Indies wins in Cape Town Test and Australia wins in Sydney, then Australia will finish ahead of South Africa by a fraction of a point (0.2).

The side that will finishes second will pocket USD390,000, while England and Pakistan have been guaranteed USD280,000 and USD170,000 after sealing third and fourth positions, respectively, following the Christchurch Test result.

The annual cut-off for the Reliance ICC Test Championship is 1 April 2015. But with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be played from 14 February to 29 March 2015, the current Test series are the last for the season.