Sri Lanka’s Historic Win Over England Sparks Major ICC Test Rankings Shake-Up
Sri Lanka stunned England at The Oval earlier this week to earn their first Test away victory over the English side.
Consequently, there has been significant movement in the ICC Test rankings for players from Sri Lanka and England. These changes have also impacted the rankings of other players.
England batter Harry Brook, who scored 19 and three in the third Test against Sri Lanka, dropped seven places to 12th in the ICC Test Batting Rankings.
As a result of Brook’s steep fall, seven players moved one place up, including Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam, who are now placed at ninth and eleventh respectively.
Notably, Babar had a forgettable home series against Bangladesh, where he managed 64 runs in four innings and crashed out of the top ten batters in ICC Test rankings in last week’s update.
Meanwhile, Rizwan is the highest-ranked Pakistan batter at ninth spot with 720 points, courtesy of his 294 runs in the series against Bangladesh.
Sri Lankan Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva reached a career-high 13th place in the batting rankings after an impressive 69-run knock in the first innings during their historic victory against England.
Young Sri Lanka batter Kamindu Mendis jumped six places to reach 19th after a stellar performance during the three-match series against England. He was the third-highest run-scorer in the series with 267 runs in five innings.
Meanwhile, the hero of their historic victory Pathum Nissanka, who struck an unbeaten 127 in the second innings, rose 42 places to 39th in the ICC Test Batting Rankings.
England’s star batter Joe Root maintained his place at the top, however, courtesy of his forgettable performance in the last Test, his rating points fell from 922 to 899.
In the ICC Test Bowling Rankings, Sri Lanka’s Asitha Fernando dropped three places to eleventh, resulting in a one-spot rise for New Zealand bowlers Kyle Jamieson and Matt Hendry, as well as Pakistan speedster Shaheen Afridi.
The left-arm pacer dropped out of the top ten in last week’s update, however, he has returned to the 10th spot, thanks to Fernando’s fall.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka bowlers Vishwa Fernando and Lahiru Kumara made significant leaps as they jumped to the 31st and 32nd spot respectively.
As a result, Pakistan’s Hasan Ali dropped to 34th place with 540 rating points, while Naseem Shah slipped to 37th place.
