Daily Times

LAHORE: England batter Joe Root has shot up four places to reclaim the top position in the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings after scores of 118 not out and 46 in the first Test in Birmingham, which the visiting Australia side won by two wickets in a thrilling finish on Tuesday. Root first grabbed number one position in August 2015 and was last at the top in December last year, when Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne grabbed the top spot. Root is presently on 887 rating points, four more than second placed Kane Williamson and 10 ahead of Labuschagne, who is in third place.

Another batter to make gains within the top 10 is Player of the Match Usman Khawaja, progressing two places to seventh position after smashing 141 and 65 in the Ashes opener. Harry Brook of England (up five places to 13th) and Alex Carey of Australia (up seven places to 29th) are others to make notable progress in the batting rankings for their performances in Birmingham.

England fast bowlers Ollie Robinson and Stuart Broad have gained one slot each after finishing with five and six wickets in the match, respectively. Robinson is in fifth place and Broad in ninth, even as veteran James Anderson retains second position in the list led by Ravichandran Ashwin. In the latest weekly update, which also considers performances in the one-off Test between Bangladesh and Afghanistan in Mirpur, Mohimul rose 17 slots to 53rd place after his 121 in the second innings. His teammate Najmul Hossain Shanto has shot up 25 spots to 54th after his first set of centuries. He smashed 146 in the first innings, followed by an equally impressive 124 in the second.

Mehidy Hasan skipped two places to 25th in the bowlers’ list after taking two wickets for 15 in just nine overs. His fellow bowlers, Ebadot Hossain and Shoriful Islam took four for 47 and two for 28, gaining three and 12 places respectively for their 62nd and 71st spots on the list.

The ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings sees Sri Lanka’s batsmen make gains after their performances in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. Kariyawasa Asalanka rose three places to 40th, while his teammates Kusal Mendis rose two slots to 50 and Pathum Nissanka jumped five spots from 62nd to 57th in the batters’ list. Other notable gains were made by Oman batters, Aquib Ilyas Sulehri, who rose four places to 51st, along with Zeeshan Maqsood who rose six places from 65th to 59th and Kashyap Prajapati who is up five places to 91st. Maqsood also gained five places to reach 40th in the bowlers’ rankings and attained a career-best number three in the all-rounders’ list after rising two places.

Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams rose five places to 53rd, while captain Craig Ervine leaped 12 slots to 79th. Meanwhile, Saurabh Netravalkar has attained a career-best 18th position in the bowlers’ rankings, becoming the first USA player to reach the top 20 in either the batting or bowling lists of the ODI rankings. UAE’s Aayan Afzal Khan has jumped 10 slots to 37th and Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava rose to 54th and 59th respectively from 58th and 66th.