Anderson grabs top ranking after Lord's effort

England pace bowler James Anderson has grabbed the top spot in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings after his superb effort in the third and final Test at Lord’s helped England win by nine wickets to seal a 2-1 series victory over the Windies.

The 35-year-old’s career-best figures of seven for 42 in an innings and a match haul of nine wickets see him overtake India’s left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who he now leads by 12 points. The third and fourth places are also taken by spinners with India’s Ravichandran Ashwin and Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath taking those positions.

Anderson, who was the top-ranked bowler in August 2016, has reclaimed the spot to become the oldest bowler to be number-one ranked since Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralidaran in July 2009 and the oldest pace bowler to be at the top since Australia’s Glenn McGrath in January 2006.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes has been another major gainer in the rankings after his player of the match performance. His knock of 60 in the first innings has lifted him four places to a career-best 20th position among batsmen while his first-innings haul of six for 22 sees him gain two places to reach 21st position among bowlers. These efforts also see him overtake team-mate Moeen Ali to take fourth place among all-rounders.

Other England players to move up include Moeen, who has gained one spot to reach 19th place among bowlers, while Toby Roland-Jones has gained one spot to take a career-best 41st slot.

For the Windies, batsman Shai Hope, who was jointly named player of the series along with Anderson, has continued his upward surge, gaining 11 slots to take a career-best 30th position while opener Kieran Powell has moved up 18 slots to 68th position.

Among its bowlers, pace bowler Kemar Roach has moved up four places to 24th position after a five-wicket haul in the first innings while captain Jason Holder has moved up three places to 33rd position.

Meanwhile, there has been no change in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings following the series with England and the Windies retaining their pre-series 105 and 75 points, respectively.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings (as on 10 September 2017, after the England v Windies series)

Rank    Team              Points

  1        India                125

  2        South Africa   110

  3        England           105

  4        New Zealand     97

  5        Australia           97

  6        Pakistan            93

  7        Sri Lanka          90

  8        West Indies       75

  9        Bangladesh       74

10        Zimbabwe         00

(Developed by David Kendix)

For more information on player rankings, please click here.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 10 September, after the third and final Test between England and the Windies at Lord’s):

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank    (+/-)      Player          Team      Pts       Avge   Highest Rating

   1        ( - )       Steve Smith      Aus      936      59.66   941 v Ind at Dharamsala 2017

   2        ( - )       Joe Root           Eng      889      53.76   917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   3        ( - )       K. Williamson    NZ        880      51.16   893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   4        ( - )       C. Pujara          Ind       876      52.65   888 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017

   5        ( - )       David Warner    Aus      807      47.94   880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   6        ( - )       Virat Kohli         Ind       806      49.55   895 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

   7        ( - )       Azhar Ali           Pak      769      46.86   787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016

   8        (+1)      Hashim Amla    SA        764      49.00   907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   9        (+1)      Lokesh Rahul    Ind       761*!   46.27   761 v SL at Pallekele 2017

  10       (+1)      A. Rahane         Ind       760       47.61   825 v NZ at Indore 2016

Other selected rankings

Rank     (+/-)      Player          Team     Pts       Avge    Highest Rating

20        (+4)      Ben Stokes       Eng      664!     35.72   664 v Win at Lord's 2017

30        (+11)    Shai Hope         Win      610*!   31.12   610 v Eng at Lord's 2017

68        (+18)    Kieran Powell    Win      423       26.96   468 v Ban at Mirpur 2012                                                                                                 

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank    (+/-)      Player          Team      Pts       Avge    Highest Rating

   1        (+1)      J. Anderson      Eng      896!     27.39   896 v Win at Lord's 2017

   2        (-1)       R. Jadeja          Ind       884       23.60   899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017

   3        ( - )       R. Ashwin         Ind       852       25.26   904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016

   4        ( - )       R. Herath          SL        809      28.25   867 v Zim at Harare 2016

   5        ( - )       J. Hazlewood    Aus      794      25.75   863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017

   6        ( - )       K. Rabada         SA        785*    24.56   821 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

   7        ( - )       Dale Steyn        SA        763       22.30   909 v Win at Centurion 2014

   8        ( - )       Nathan Lyon     Aus      752 !    31.83   752 v Ban at Chittagong 2017

   9        ( - )       V. Philander      SA        751       22.45   912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

  10       (+1)      Neil Wagner      NZ        745       28.90   767 v SA at Dunedin 2017

Other selected rankings

Rank   (+/-)      Player            Team     Pts      Avge    Highest Rating

  19       (+1)      Moeen Ali         Eng      608      37.32   633 v Win at Edgbaston 2017

  21       (+2)      Ben Stokes       Eng      596*!   33.93   596 v Win at Lord's 2017

  24       (+4)      Kemar Roach    Win      561       30.20   774 v SA at Centurion 2014

  33       (+3)      Jason Holder     Win      488*!   36.61   488 v Eng at Lord's 2017

  41       (+1)      T. R-Jones        Eng      414*!   19.64   414 v Win at Lord's 2017

All-rounders (top five)

Rank    (+/-)      Player          Team      Pts       Highest Rating

   1        ( - )       S. Al Hasan       Ban      456      489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017

   2        ( - )       R. Jadeja          Ind       430      438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017

   3        ( - )       R. Ashwin         Ind       422      493 v Eng at Mohali 2016

   4        (+1)      Ben Stokes       Eng      396/*!  396 v Win at Lord's 2017

   5        (-1)       Moeen Ali         Eng      378      409 v SA at Old Trafford 2017

*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.
! indicates career-highest rating.

Image: Wikimedia Commons