Williamson climbs to second spot in Test rankings

The latest rankings, which also take into account performances in the first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Galle, which the home side won by 259 runs on Saturday, sees Williamson leapfrog Joe Root and Virat Kohli after his fine knock of 130.

Williamson, who was number-one ranked for a brief while in November-December 2015, is now on 869 points, 21 points ahead of third-placed Root but a good 67 points adrift of table leader Steve Smith of Australia, who is on 936 points.

South Africa’s Dean Elgar is another batsman to make significant gains after his innings of 140 and 89.

The left-handed opener has gained 10 spots to reach a career-best 11th rank and is now just seven points behind team-mate AB de Villiers. South Africa captain Faf de Plessis’s two half-centuries have seen him gain two spots to reach 19th position.

Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Mendis’s scores of 194 and 19, which earned him the player of the match award in Galle, have also helped him gain 16 places to reach 23rd rank while his team-mate Upul Tharanga’s first century on home soil has enabled him to move up nine slots to 44th rank.

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim has moved up six places to 29th rank after scores of 85 and 34 while Soumya Sarkar’s two half-centuries in Galle have taken him up 25 places to 55th rank.

The top 10 of the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers has remained unchanged but Sri Lanka all-rounder Dilruwan Perera has moved up three slots to 14th rank after his five wickets in the Galle Test while Bangladesh spinner Mehedi Hasan’s six wickets have helped him gain four places to reach 36th rank.

South Africa left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj’s haul of five for 94 in New Zealand’s only innings in Dunedin has helped him gain 13 places to reach 52nd spot.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan has conceded the top spot for all-rounders to India’s Ravichandran Ashwin after having overtaken him earlier this week. Shakib has dropped 38 points and is now on 403 points, 31 behind Ashwin.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 13 March, after the first Test between New Zealand and South Africa in Dunedin and the first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Galle)

Batsmen (top 10)

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

   1       ( - )       Steve Smith      Aus      936        59.32     939 v Ind at Pune 2017

   2       (+2)      K.Williamson     NZ        869        50.89     893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   3       (-1)       Joe Root           Eng      848        52.80     917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   4       (-1)       Virat Kohli         Ind       847        49.90     895 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

   5       ( - )       David Warner    Aus      794        48.27     880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   6       ( - )       C. Pujara          Ind       793        49.84     851 v SA at Durban 2013

   7       (+1)      Azhar Ali           Pak      779        47.07     787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016

   8       (+1)      Younus Khan    Pak      772        53.06     880 v SL at Lahore 2009

   9       (-2)       Hashim Amla    SA        757        49.51     907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

  10      (+1)      AB de Villiers     SA        747        50.46     935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

Other selected rankings

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

11       (+10)    Dean Elgar           SA        740!   41.82     740 v NZ at Dunedin 2017

15=     (+1)      Ross Taylor         NZ        719    47.10     871 v WI at Hamilton 2013

19       (+2)      Faf du Plessis      SA        688    44.92     710 v WI at Port Elizabeth 2014

23       (+16)    Kusal Mendis       SL        653*  36.72     692 v Aus at Galle 2016

29       (+6)      M.  Rahim            Ban      629!   35.06     629 v SL at Galle 2017

44       (+9)      Upul Tharanga     SL        537*! 34.02     537 v Ban at Galle 2017

55       (+25)    Soumya Sarka     Ban      473*! 37.27     473 v SL at Galle 2017

69       (+18)    Jeet Raval           NZ        418*  36.12     432 v Pak at Christchurch 2016

Bowlers (top 10)

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

  1=      ( - )       R. Ashwin             Ind      892        24.79    904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016

            ( - )       R. Jadeja              Ind      892!       23.44    892 v Aus at Bengaluru 2017

   3       ( - )       J. Hazlewood        Aus     863!       24.38    863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017

   4       ( - )       R. Herath              SL       850        27.97    867 v Zim at Harare 2016

   5       ( - )       Kagiso Rabada      SA      813*      22.85    821 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

   6       ( - )       Dale Steyn            SA       811        22.30    909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   7       ( - )       J. Anderson          Eng     810        28.50    884 v SL at Durham 2016

   8       ( - )       Stuart Broad         Eng     803        28.54    880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016

   9       ( - )       V. Philander          SA       792        21.55    912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

  10      ( - )       Neil Wagner          NZ       767!       28.60    767 v SA at Dunedin 2017

Other selected rankings

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

  14       (+3)     D. Perera             SL     672*    27.56     674 v Zim at Harare 2016

  36      (+4)      Mehedi Hasan      Ban    448*    30.70     463 v Eng at Mirpur 2016

  52      (+13)    Keshav Maharaj   SA     301*!   29.25     301 v NZ at Dunedin 2017

All-rounders (top five)

Rank    (+/-)       Player                     Team      Pts      Highest Rating

  1       (+1)      R. Ashwin               Ind        434      493 v Eng at Mohali 2016

   2       (-1)       S. Al Hasan             Ban        403      443 v NZ at Christchurch 2017

   3       ( - )       R. Jadeja                Ind        360      407 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

   4       ( - )       Mitchell Starc          Aus        332      347 v Ind at Pune 2017

   5       ( - )       Ben Stokes             Eng        327/*    351 v Ind at Mohali 2016

*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