England’s Joe Root has reclaimed the No. 1 position in the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings, just a week after losing the spot to fellow Yorkshireman Harry Brook, while Scott Boland has reached a career-best rank as part of a historic Australian presence in the top 10 Test bowling rankings.
Root’s scores of 104 and 40 in the third Test against India at Lord’s, which England won by 22 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match ICC World Test Championship (WTC) series, lifted him back to the top for the eighth time in his career.
At 34 years old, Root is now the oldest No. 1 Test batter since Kumar Sangakkara topped the charts in 2014 at age 37.
Brook, Williamson, Smith and Jaiswal reshuffle top 5
The updated Test batting rankings also saw Harry Brook fall behind Kane Williamson into third place, while Steve Smith overtook Yashasvi Jaiswal to move into fourth position.
Other key Test batting movements:
- Cameron Green (AUS): Up 16 spots to joint-29th
- Ravindra Jadeja (IND): Up 5 spots to 34th
- K.L. Rahul (IND): Up 5 spots to 35th
- Shubman Gill (IND): Down 3 spots to 9th
- Ben Stokes (ENG): Up 2 spots to 42nd among batters
Boland leads Aussie bowling surge — five in top 10
Scott Boland has climbed six places to reach a career-best 6th position in the ICC Test Bowling Rankings, following his six wickets (including a hat-trick) in Australia’s dominant win over the West Indies at Kingston.
He joins four other Australians already in the top 10:
- Pat Cummins
- Josh Hazlewood
- Nathan Lyon
- Mitchell Starc
This marks the first time since 1958 — when England had six bowlers in the top 12 — that a single team has had such dominance in the Test bowling rankings.
Boland’s staggering Test average of 16.53 is bettered only by ICC Hall of Famers George Lohmann and Sydney Barnes.
Ranking boosts for West Indies and India bowlers
Despite their record-low 27 all out in Kingston, the West Indies had some bright spots in the rankings:
- Shamar Joseph: Up to a career-best 14th
- Alzarri Joseph: Up 2 places to 29th
- Justin Greaves: Up 15 places to 65th
India’s Washington Sundar also jumped in the bowling charts, climbing from 58th to 46th with four wickets in the second innings at Lord’s.
T20I player movements: Mendis, Emon, Thushara rise
In the Men’s T20I Rankings, several players made upward moves:
- Kusal Mendis (SL): Up 3 places to 15th in batting
- Parvez Hossain Emon (BAN): Up 12 places to 85th in batting
- Nuwan Thushara (SL): Up 9 places to 16th in bowling
- Rishad Hossain (BAN): Up 12 places to 17th in bowling
For more on ICC Rankings and the WTC standings, visit the ICC’s official website.
