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
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