England’s top order batsmen are making waves in the ICC Test batting rankings. Joe Root still tops the list, but his teammate Harry Brook is closing in fast. Brook’s 58 runs against Zimbabwe in a recent Test match brought him within 15 rating points of Root.
Root scored 34 runs in the same match, barely holding onto his top spot. The top five batsmen are Root, Brook, Kane Williamson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Steve Smith.
Other English batsmen also made significant gains. Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, and Ollie Pope all scored centuries in a four-day Test match at Trent Bridge. As a result, Duckett jumped two spots to 13th, Pope rose six spots to 22nd, and Crawley climbed eight spots to 33rd.
England is set to start their new ICC World Test Championship campaign against India in a five-match Test series. Despite losing to England by an innings and 45 runs, Zimbabwe can take heart from the performances of Sean Williams and Bradley Evans, who moved up the rankings after their impressive show with the bat.
English pacer Gus Atkinson took three wickets against Zimbabwe and rose one spot to 13th in the Test bowlers’ rankings. His teammate Shoeb Bashir leaped 14 spots to 43rd after taking nine wickets.
India’s fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah remains the world’s number one Test bowler, while Atkinson moved up one spot to seventh in the Test all-rounders’ list. Ravindra Jadeja is currently the world’s number one Test all-rounder.
There were also changes in the white-ball cricket rankings. West Indies batsman Keacy Carty jumped 20 spots to 16th in the ODI batting rankings after scoring 170 runs against Ireland. Ireland’s Andrew Balbirnie rose eight spots to 48th, while American fast bowler Saurabh Netravalkar climbed four spots to 22nd in the ODI bowling rankings.