ICC Test Player Rankings: Joe Root enters top 10 for first time; Rangana Herath, Angelo Mathews achieve career best rankings
England No. 5 Joe Root has made his entry into the top 10 list for the first time in his career, in the recently released ICC player rankings for batsmen, following a successful 5-match series against India at home. The 23-year-old, with five 50+ scores in the seven innings he batted, jumped 17 places through the course of the series to now occupy the 9th spot.
The Yorkshire cricketer scored an unbeaten 149 in the final Test match at The Oval to go with his 154 not out in the first Test at Trent Bridge. He registered scores of 13, 66, 3, 56 and 77 in the rest of the matches to finish with 789 rating points.
Sri Lanka cricketers on the rise
In the aftermath of their series win against Pakistan, Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews reached a career high 3rd place in the rankings for the batsmen.
The rise is a reward for his consistency since taking over as captain of the side. Mathews pushed down David Warner and Hashim Amla to now be behind only to Kumar Sangakkara and AB de Villiers.
Rangana Herath, who became the first left-arm spinner in Test history to pick up 9 wickets in a Test innings, at Colombo (SSC), leapfrogged Mitchell Johnson and James Anderson to the third spot. His match haul of 14 for 184 earned him a personal best ranking points of 851. South Africa’s Dale Steyn continues to lead the bowlers’ chart.
Upul Tharanga and Pakistan’s Sarfraz Ahmed were the biggest gainers in the rankings table rocketing up by 49 and 29 places to 52nd and 51st spot in the table, respectively.
The retired Mahela Jayawardene, who once topped the rankings in November 2009, has signed off at 15th place.
Indian stars on the slide
Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, following their series of failures with the bat in the just concluded England series, slipped four and five ranks to find themselves at 16th and 26th spot, respectively. Opener Murali Vijay, too, slipped four places, while Ajinkya Rahane came down by 9 ranks.
However, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who waged a lone battle with his 82 in India’s first innings in the final Test against England, moved four places to station himself at 28.
ICC Test Batsmen
| Rank | Player | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 915 |
| 2 | AB de Villiers (SA) | 888 |
| 3 | Angelo Mathews (SL) | 873 |
| 4 | David Warner (Aus) | 871 |
| 5 | Hashim Amla (SA) | 863 |
| 6 | Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI) | 854 |
| 7 | Michael Clarke (Aus) | 818 |
| 8 | Ross Taylor (NZ) | 795 |
| 9 | Joe Root (Eng) | 789 |
| 10 | Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak) | 762 |
ICC Test Bowlers
| Rank | Player | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dale Steyn (SA) | 907 |
| 2 | Ryan Harris (Aus) | 870 |
| 3 | Rangana Herath (SL) | 851 |
| 4 | Mitchell Johnson (Aus) | 844 |
| 5 | James Anderson (Eng) | 806 |
| 6 | Vernon Philander (SA) | 785 |
| 7 | Tim Southee (NZ) | 783 |
| 8 | Stuart Broad (Eng) | 774 |
| 9 | Saeed Ajmal (Pak) | 762 |
| 10 | Trent Boult (NZ) | 737 |
*Rankings updated on 15 August, 2014