Herath returns to the top 10, Mendis just outside the top 20

Herath, who took four for 49 and five for 54, has returned to the top 10 in ninth position after rising four places in the bowling chart, while Mendis, who won the player of the match award for his 176 in the second innings, has vaulted 27 places to 21st position in the batting table.

Herath’s rise means he has opened up a nine-position gap on his nearest team-mate Dhammika Prasad, who is nursing a shoulder injury. The Sri Lanka left-arm spinner is also the fourth spinner inside the top 10 after number-one ranked Ravichandaran Ashwin of India, Pakistan’s fifth-ranked Yasir Shah and sixth-ranked Ravindra Jadeja of India.

For Australia, the good news is the movement of fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who has moved up one place to seventh, while left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe has climbed six places to 65th.

Mendis’s rise means he is now the second highest-ranked Sri Lanka batsman after Angelo Mathews (12th after dropping two places). Dimuth Karunaratne 36th (after slipping two places) and Kaushal Silva 43rd (after falling seven places).

The batting list is headed by Australia captain Steve Smith, although his 24-point gap with England’s second-ranked Joe Root has been trimmed to 20 points. With Root to feature against Pakistan in the third Test at Edgbaston on Wednesday, 3 August, and Smith to face Sri Lanka in the second Test in Galle on Thursday, 4 August, it will be interesting to follow how the two batsmen perform as their performances will have direct impacts on their rankings.

The other good news for Australia is the movement of Adam Voges, who has broken into the top five in fifth position for the first time. Voges scored 47 and 12, and now trails South Africa’s fourth-ranked Hashim Amla by 40 points.

Australia openers David Warner and Joe Burns, and one-down batsman Usman Khawaja have all lost ground in the latest rankings, which were updated following the conclusion of the Bulawayo Test.

Warner now shares 10th position with India captain Virat Kohli after sliding three places, whereas Khawaja and Burns have slipped two places each to claim 29th and 35th positions, respectively.

Bulawayo centurions on the move

Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, BJ-Watling (all New Zealand) and Sean Williams (Zimbabwe) have made impressive gains in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings following the Bulawayo Test, which New Zealand won by an innings and 117 runs on Sunday.

Taylor, who won the player of the match award for his 173 not out, has moved up three places to 12th while Latham and Watling now share 30th position after rising two and five places, respectively.

Williams has been rewarded for his 119, his maiden Test century, in the second innings by returning to the rankings in 79th position.

Fast bowler Neil Wagner has achieved a career-high 13th ranking after his figures of six for 41 in the first innings and two for 62 in the second innings has given him a lift of four places. He now trails eighth-ranked Trent Boult by 70 points and 12th-ranked Tim Southee by 15 points.

Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner’s three wickets in the match have given him a rise of 14 places and puts him in 59th spot, while his team-mate Ish Sodhi has returned in 66th position.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 31 July, after Bulawayo and Pallekele Tests)

Batsmen (top 20)

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Avge      Highest Rating
   1           ( - )          Steve Smith          Aus         921         59.65     936 v Eng at Lord's 2015
   2           ( - )          Joe Root               Eng         901         56.15     917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
   3           ( - )          Kane Williamson   NZ          866         49.73     893 v Aus at Perth 2015
   4           ( - )          Hashim Amla        SA           860         51.45     907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
   5           (+1)         Adam Voges         Aus         820*!    87.25     820 v SL at Pallekele 2016
   6           (-1)          AB de Villiers        SA           818         50.46     935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014
   7           (+1)         Misbah-ul-Haq      Pak         790         48.95     842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014
   8           (+1)         Alastair Cook       Eng         788         47.48     874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
   9           (+1)         Younus Khan       Pak         784         53.19     880 v SL at Lahore 2009
  10=       (+2)         Virat Kohli             Ind          757         46.28     784 v NZ at Wellington 2014
                (-3)          David Warner      Aus         757         48.98     880 v NZ at Perth 2015
  12         (+3)         Ross Taylor          NZ          747         47.00     871 v WI at Hamilton 2013
  13=       (-2)          Angelo Mathews  SL           738         47.86     877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014
                ( - )          Asad Shafiq        Pak         738         43.15     758 v Eng at Lord's 2016
  15         (-1)          Ajinkya Rahane   Ind          732         44.35     753 v SA at Delhi 2015
  16         ( - )          Jonny Bairstow    Eng         712!       40.13     712 v Pak at Old Trafford 2016
  17         ( - )          Murali Vijay          Ind          679         40.56     747 v SA at Bengaluru 2015
  18=       ( - )          Sarfraz Ahmed    Pak         678         43.71     715 v SL at Galle 2015
                ( - )          C. Pujara             Ind          678         46.84     851 v SA at Durban 2013
  20         ( - )          D. Chandimal       SL           664         43.91     690 v NZ at Dunedin 2015

Bowlers (top 20)

Rank      (+/-)        Player                       Team     Points    Avge      HS Rating
   1           ( - )          R. Ashwin                  Ind          876!       25.11     876 v WI at Antigua 2016
   2           ( - )          James Anderson      Eng         875         28.23     884 v SL at Durham 2016
   3           ( - )          Stuart Broad            Eng         852         28.42     880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
   4           ( - )          Dale Steyn               SA           841         22.53     909 v WI at Centurion 2014
   5           ( - )          Yasir Shah               Pak         832*      25.79     878 v Eng at Lord's 2016
   6           ( - )          Ravindra Jadeja       Ind          781*      23.76     789 v SA at Delhi 2015
   7           (+1)         Josh Hazlewood      Aus         763*      25.12     792 v WI at Hobart 2015
   8           (-1)          Trent Boult              NZ          762         28.87     825 v Eng at Lord's 2015
   9           (+4)         Rangana Herath      SL           749         29.64     851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014
  10         (-1)          Morne Morkel           SA           724         29.33     776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
  11         (-1)          Vernon Philander     SA           717         22.08     912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013
  12         (-1)          Tim Southee            NZ          707         31.92     799 v WI at Jamaica 2014
  13         (+4)         Neil Wagner             NZ          692*!    30.52     692 v Zim at Bulawayo 2016
  14         (-2)          Nathan Lyon            Aus         688         32.65     696 v NZ at Wellington 2016
  15         (-1)          Mitchell Starc          Aus         676*      30.08     692 v NZ at Adelaide 2015
  16         (-1)          Peter Siddle            Aus         615         29.88     816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013
  17         (-1)          Shakib Al Hasan     Ban        614         33.29     700 v Zim at Khulna 2014
  18         ( - )          D. Prasad                SL           595*      35.97     632 v WI at Colombo (PSS) 2015
  19         ( - )          James Pattinson     Aus         585*      26.15     591 v NZ at Christchurch 2016
  20         ( - )          Ishant Sharma        Ind          572         37.06     671 v WI at Dominica 2011

All-rounders (top 5)

Rank      (+/-)        Player                     Team     Points    Highest Rating
   1           ( - )          R. Ashwin                Ind          427        427 v WI at Antigua 2016
   2           ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan    Ban        384        419 v Zim at Khulna 2014
   3=        ( - )          Stuart Broad           Eng         275        382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012
                ( - )          Vernon Philander   SA           275*/    376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014
   5           ( - )          Ben Stokes            Eng         270/*    276 v SA at Centurion 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