Anderson had entered the Edgbaston Test trailing Ashwin by one point, but he has now opened up a 12-point gap over the India spinner. This is following Anderson’s four wickets against third-ranked Pakistan, which has earned him six points, as compared to Ashwin who has dropped six points despite taking six wickets against eighth-ranked West Indies in the Jamaica Test.
This is the second time in less than six weeks that Anderson has topped the bowling table. He had surged to the top of the chart for the first time in his career on 31 May after he took eight wickets in England’s nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second Test at Chester-le-Street. But the competition at the top of the table is so tight that the number-one ranking has thrice changed hands from Yasir Shah to Ashwin and back to Anderson.
Australia’s Mitchell Starc, Sri Lanka’s Dilruwan Perera and Chris Woakes of England are the other bowlers to make impressive gains in the latest rankings.
Starc took 11 wickets in the Galle Test against Sri Lanka for which he has been rewarded with a jump of eight places. This now puts him in a career-high seventh position, making him the highest-ranked Australia bowler after Josh Hazlewood slipped three places to 10th.
Perera has vaulted 11 places to a career-best 16th position following his 10 wickets in Galle, making him the third Sri Lanka bowler inside the top 20 after Rangana Herath (eighth, up by one place) and Dhammika Prasad (19th, down by one place).
An impressive Woakes has continued to march up the rankings. Woakes had started the season in 87th position and has now broken into the top 20 in 20th position for the first time. In the Edgbaston Test, he took five wickets, which has helped him rise three places. Woakes now has 39 wickets in 11 Tests, including 31 wickets in five home Tests this season.
In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Ranking for Test Batsmen, Australia’s Steve Smith continues to lead the field. England’s Joe Root is second, 16 points behind, while New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is third.
Batsmen to make upward movement following the Edgbaston, Galle and Jamaica Tests include Alastair Cook to seventh (up by one place), David Warner to ninth (up by one place), Angelo Mathews to 10th (up by three places), Ajinkya Rahane to 11th (up by four places), Jonny Bairstow to 15th (up by one place), Kusal Mendis to 17th (up by four places), Azhar Ali to 18th (up by eight places), BJ Watling and Tom Latham to joint-28th, Moeen Ali to 33rd (up by eight places), Gary Ballance to 36th (up by five places) and Jermaine Blackwood 44th (up by 10 places).
West Indies’ Roston Chase, who scored a match-saving 137 not out against India, has rocketed 72 places to share 65th position with Alex Hales of England, while Pakistan opener Sami Aslam, who scored 82 and 70 at Edgbaston, has returned to the rankings in 67th position.
In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders, Moeen Ali has achieved a career-high third position following scores of 63 and 86 not out as well as match figures of two for 128. Ashwin is the number-one ranked all-rounder, while Ali’s England team-mate Stuart Broad is fifth after slipping two places.
The player rankings will be now be updated following the Colombo Test.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s 2-0 lead over Australia in the three-Test series has thrown up a number of permutations with Australia, India, Pakistan and England all in with a chance to finish the month as the number-one ranked Test side on the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings.
The following are the various scenarios (the Test predictor function is available here):
Sri Lanka v Australia
If Sri Lanka beats Australia 2-1, then Australia will finish on 111
If Sri Lanka beats Australia 2-0, then Australia will finish on 110
If Sri Lanka beats Australia 3-0, then Australia will finish on 108
West Indies v India
India beats West Indies 2-0, then India will finish on 110
India beats West Indies 3-0, then India will finish on 112
India beats West Indies 2-1, then India will finish on 108
England v Pakistan
England beats Pakistan 2-1, then England will finish on 110
England beats Pakistan 3-1, then England will finish on 112
England-Pakistan series ends in 2-all, then Pakistan will finish on 111
· If Sri Lanka beats Australia 2-1, England-Pakistan series ends two-all and India beats West Indies by 2-0, then Australia and Pakistan will be on 111 points each but Australia will be ranked first
· If Sri Lanka beats Australia 2-0, England beats Pakistan 2-1 and India beats West Indies 2-0, then Australia, England and India will be on 110 points each but England will be ranked first, followed by India and Australia
· If England beats Pakistan 3-1 and India beats West Indies 3-0, then both England and India will be on 112 points each but India will be ranked first
· If England-Pakistan series ends in two-all, Sri Lanka beats Australia by 3-0 or 2-0 and India beats West Indies by 2-1or 2-0, then Pakistan will become number-one ranked side
Forthcoming Tests:
9-13 Aug – 3rd Test, West Indies v India, Gros Islet
11-15 Aug – 4th Test, England v Pakistan, The Oval
13-17 Aug – 3rd Test, Sri Lanka v Australia, Colombo
18-22 Aug - 4th Test, West Indies v India, Port of Spain
ICC MRF Tyres Test Team Rankings are only updated at the conclusion of a series
MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 8 August, after Edgbaston, Galle and Jamaica Tests)
Batsmen (top 20)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) Steve Smith Aus 904 58.41 936 v Eng at Lord's 2015
2 ( - ) Joe Root Eng 888 55.49 917 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 ( - ) Adam Voges Aus 824*! 79.55 824 v SL at Galle 2016
6 ( - ) AB de Villiers SA 818 50.46 935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014
7 (+1) Alastair Cook Eng 791 47.55 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
8 (-1) Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 780 48.62 842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014
9 (+1) David Warner Aus 770 48.82 880 v NZ at Perth 2015
10 (+3) Angelo Mathews SL 761 47.92 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014
11= (-2) Younus Khan Pak 760 52.78 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
(+4) Ajinkya Rahane Ind 760! 47.27 760 v WI at Jamaica 2016
13 (-3) Virat Kohli Ind 748 46.25 784 v NZ at Wellington 2014
14 (-2) Ross Taylor NZ 747 47.00 871 v WI at Hamilton 2013
15 (+1) Jonny Bairstow Eng 713! 40.46 713 v Pak at Edgbaston 2016
16 (-3) Asad Shafiq Pak 695 41.84 758 v Eng at Lord's 2016
17 (+4) Kusal Mendis SL 692*! 41.06 692 v Aus at Galle 2016
18 (+8) Azhar Ali Pak 678 42.85 753 v SL at Pallekele 2012
19 (-1) Sarfraz Ahmed Pak 673 43.78 715 v SL at Galle 2015
20= (-3) Murali Vijay Ind 672 40.56 747 v SA at Bengaluru 2015
(-2) C. Pujara Ind 672 46.83 851 v SA at Durban 2013
Other selected rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge HS Rating
27 (-4) M. Hafeez Pak 594 39.22 642 v Eng at Sharjah 2015
28= (+2) BJ Watling NZ 589 38.57 644 v Eng at Headingley 2015
(+2) Tom Latham NZ 589* 39.91 590 v SL at Dunedin 2015
30 (-3) Darren Bravo WI 588 39.85 709 v Aus at Trinidad 2012
32 (+1) Shikhar Dhawan Ind 574* 41.73 593 v SL at Galle 2015
33 (+8) Moeen Ali Eng 571! 32.85 571 v Pak at Edgbaston 2016
34 (-5) Usman Khawaja Aus 563* 44.03 613 v NZ at Wellington 2016
35 (-2) K. Brathwaite WI 559 33.69 591 v Eng at Grenada 2015
36 (+5) Gary Ballance Eng 542* 45.46 702 v WI at Grenada 2015
41 (-6) Joe Burns Aus 514* 41.52 575 v NZ at Christchurch 2016
42 (-6) D. Karunaratne SL 510 32.05 619 v WI at Galle 2015
44 (+10) J. Blackwood WI 508* 33.03 575 v Eng at Barbados 2015
45 (-2) Shaun Marsh Aus 506* 37.72 537 v WI at Hobart 2015
46 (-3) Marlon Samuels WI 503 33.12 672 v Zim at Barbados 2013
47 (-4) Kaushal Silva SL 481 29.90 638 v Pak at Colombo (PSS) 2015
50 (-3) R. Ashwin Ind 471 33.00 527 v Eng at Old Trafford 2014
Bowlers (top 20)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge HS Rating
1 (+1) James Anderson Eng 881 28.17 884 v SL at Durham 2016
2 (-1) R. Ashwin Ind 869 25.19 876 v WI at Antigua 2016
3 ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 854 28.32 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
4 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 841 22.53 909 v WI at Centurion 2014
5 ( - ) Yasir Shah Pak 791* 27.55 878 v Eng at Lord's 2016
6 ( - ) Ravindra Jadeja Ind 773* 23.76 789 v SA at Delhi 2015
7 (+8) Mitchell Starc Aus 767! 27.88 767 v SL at Galle 2016
8 (+1) Rangana Herath SL 766 29.43 851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014
9 (-1) Trent Boult NZ 762 28.87 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015
10 (-3) Josh Hazlewood Aus 755* 25.29 792 v WI at Hobart 2015
11 (-1) Morne Morkel SA 724 29.33 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
12 (-1) Vernon Philander SA 717 22.08 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013
13 (-1) Tim Southee NZ 707 31.92 799 v WI at Jamaica 2014
14 (-1) Neil Wagner NZ 692*! 30.52 692 v Zim at Bulawayo 2016
15 (-1) Nathan Lyon Aus 665 32.78 696 v NZ at Wellington 2016
16 (+11) Dilruwan Perera SL 658*! 26.78 658 v Aus at Galle 2016
17 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 614 33.29 700 v Zim at Khulna 2014
18 (-2) Peter Siddle Aus 608 29.88 816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013
19 (-1) D. Prasad SL 589* 35.97 632 v WI at Colombo (PSS) 2015
20 (+3) Chris Woakes Eng 581*! 25.69 581 v Pak at Edgbaston 2016
Other selected rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge HS Rating
22 (-2) Ishant Sharma Ind 573 37.05 671 v WI at Dominica 2011
24 (-2) Steven Finn Eng 542 29.85 624 v NZ at Headingley 2013
25 (+2) M. Shami Ind 506*! 34.47 506 v WI at Jamaica 2016
27 (-1) Moeen Ali Eng 493* 41.05 557 v SA at Durban 2015
28 (-4) Umesh Yadav Ind 485* 35.51 509 v WI at Antigua 2016
32 ( - ) Rahat Ali Pak 445* 38.68 456 v Eng at Lord's 2016
34 (-1) Amit Mishra Ind 427* 34.36 467 v SA at Nagpur 2015
35 (+1) Doug Bracewell NZ 410* 38.05 538 v WI at Jamaica 2012
38 (+1) Mark Craig NZ 397* 45.56 405 v Aus at Wellington 2016
40 ( - ) Devendra Bishoo WI 385* 40.05 426 v Ind at Delhi 2011
46 ( - ) Mitchell Marsh Aus 335* 34.55 349 v WI at Melbourne 2015
48 ( - ) Shannon Gabriel WI 329* 38.05 360 v Zim at Dominica 2013
49 (+9) L. Sandakan SL 319*! 15.22 319 v Aus at Galle 2016
50 (-1) M. Siriwardana SL 317* 23.36 327 v Eng at Durham 2016
All-rounders (top five)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Rating
1 ( - ) R. Ashwin Ind 409 427 v WI at Antigua 2016
2 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 384 419 v Zim at Khulna 2014
3 (+3) Moeen Ali Eng 282 /*! 282 v Pak at Edgbaston 2016
4 (-1) Vernon Philander SA 275*/ 376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014
5 (-2) Stuart Broad Eng 273 382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012
*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
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