Thursday, March 28, 2024

ICC: Holder, Stokes in focus in England-West Indies series

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Photo Credit: Cricket West Indies

Captains Jason Holder of the West Indies and Ben Stokes of England head into the opening match of their three-Test series as the top two all-rounders in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings, as well as the top-ranked batsmen from their respective sides.

  • They are the top two all-rounders in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings and also the top-ranked batsmen from their respective sides going into the Southampton Test
  • Chance for England to move up in the ICC World Test Championship while the West Indies look for opening points

Holder, only the second West Indies player after Sir Garry Sobers to hold the top spot among Test all-rounders, has a career best 473 points going into the Southampton Test. The 28-year-old from Barbados has been at the top since January 2019.

Stokes, who is skipper for the opening match as Joe Root will be away for the birth of his second child, is on 407 points. Stokes would be looking to work his way up in the points aggregate during the series and emulate compatriot Andrew Flintoff, the last England player at the top of the Test all-rounders’ list, in May 2006.

Holder is in 35th position among batsmen with Shane Dowrich, Roston Chase and Kraigg Brathwaite ranked from 44th to 52nd places. Shai Hope, currently in 64th position, would be hoping to move up by striking the kind of form that saw him score twin centuries to win the Leeds Test three years ago. Holder is also their leading bowler, in third position, with fast bowlers Kemar Roach (11th) and Shannon Gabriel (19th) others in the top 20.

Tenth-ranked Stokes is England’s leading batsman in the absence of Root, while their next highest ranked batsman is Rory Burns in 33rd position – back after injuring himself playing football. Formerly top-ranked James Anderson leads the bowlers in eighth position with Chris Woakes (23rd) and Stokes (26th) just outside the top 20.

ICC World Test Championship: England, currently on 146 points, would be aiming to overtake New Zealand (180) to third position in the ICC World Test Championship points table while the West Indies would be hoping to garner their opening points having previously lost 2-0 to table leaders India. England drew a five-Test series 2-2 against Australia and won a four-match series 3-1 against South Africa.

Each series of the WTC is worth 120 points, distributed evenly over the number of matches in a series. The points range from 60 points for each match of a two-Test series to 24 for each match of a five-Test series. The top two teams at the end of the league will play the final to decide the champion.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 6 July, before the England-West Indies series):

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank(+/-)PlayerTeamPtsAvgeHighest Rating
1Steve SmithAus91162.84947 v SA at Durban 2018
2Virat KohliInd88653.62937 v Eng at Southampton 2018
3Marnus LabuschagneAus827*!63.43827 v NZ at Sydney 2020
4Kane WilliamsonNZ81350.99915 v Ban at Hamilton 2019
5Babar AzamPak800!45.12800 v Ban at Rawalpindi 2020
6David WarnerAus79348.94880 v NZ at Perth 2015
7Cheteshwar PujaraInd76648.66888 v SL at Nagpur 2017
8Joe RootEng76448.40917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
9Ajinkya RahaneInd72642.88825 v NZ at Indore 2016
10Ben StokesEng71836.54745 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2020

Other selected rankings

Rank(+/-)PlayerTeamPtsAvgeHighest Rating
33Rory BurnsEng579*33.75597 v SA at Centurion 2019
35Jason HolderWI57032.72581 v Eng at Barbados 2019
42Joe DenlyEng550*30.00578 v SA at Cape Town 2020
44Shane DowrichWI544!30.08544 v Afg at Lucknow 2019
48=Jonny BairstowEng51634.74772 v SA at Old Trafford 2017
 Roston ChaseWI51631.38626 v Pak at Dominica 2017
52Kraigg BrathwaiteWI50833.29701 v Eng at Headingley 2017
64Shai HopeWI47927.23653 v Zim at Bulawayo 2017

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank(+/-)PlayerTeamPtsAvgeHighest Rating
1Pat CumminsAus90421.82914 v Eng at Old Trafford 2019
2Neil WagnerNZ84326.60859 v Aus at Melbourne 2019
3Jason HolderWI830!26.37830 v Afg at Lucknow 2019
4Tim SoutheeNZ812!29.00812 v India at Christchurch 2020
5Kagiso RabadaSA80222.95902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018
6Mitchell StarcAus79626.97806 v NZ at Perth 2019
7Jasprit BumrahInd779*20.33835 v WI at Jamaica 2019
8James AndersonEng77526.83903 v India at Lord’s 2018
9Trent BoultNZ77027.65825 v Eng at Lord’s 2015
10Josh HazlewoodAus76926.20863 v India at Bengaluru 2017

Other selected rankings

Rank(+/-)PlayerTeamPtsAvgeHighest Rating
11(-1)Kemar RoachWI76327.13780 v India at Jamaica 2019
13(-1)Stuart BroadEng75328.50880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
19(-)S GabrielWI67330.63757 v Ban at Jamaica 2018
23(-)Chris WoakesEng594*30.88609 v Pak at The Oval 2016
26(-)Ben StokesEng56732.68606 v WI at St Lucia 2019
27=Moeen AliEng54836.59633 v WI at Edgbaston 2017
36(-)Mark WoodEng439*!31.41439 v SA at Johannesburg 2020
37=Jofra ArcherEng410*27.40465 v Aus at The Oval 2019
39=Sam CurranEng394*31.70409 v SA at Cape Town 2020
 Jack LeachEng394*29.02450 v Aus at The Oval 2019
41(-)Rahkeem CornwallWI364*!22.61364 v Afg at Lucknow 2019

All-rounders (top five)

Rank(+/-)PlayerTeamPtsHighest Rating
1Jason HolderWI473!473 v Afg at Lucknow 2019
2Ben StokesEng407411 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2020
3R JadejaInd397438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017
4Mitchell StarcAus298346 v India at Pune 2017
5R AshwinInd282492 v Eng at Mohali 2016

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