Johannesburg and Wellington Test centurions on the charge in latest ICC rankings

South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who while scoring 134 became the eighth batsman to score a century in his 100th Test, has jumped four places to claim sixth position, while JP Duminy, who scored 155 and added 292 runs for the third wicket with Amla, has vaulted nine places to secure a career-high 33rd position.

Captain Faf du Plessis and Dean Elgar, who won the player of the series award, finished in joint-21st position.

Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, who was one of South Africa’s stars in its ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2014 triumph, stole the bowling limelight when he returned figures of three for 44 and two for 50.

For this performance, he has earned a rise of three places which has puts him in fifth position in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers.

Radaba is now South Africa’s highest-ranked bowler, one place ahead of Dale Steyn who missed the series due to an injury.

Rabada leads Steyn by two points and trails Sri Lanka’s fourth-ranked spinner Rangana Herath by six points.

For Sri Lanka, the only good news is the rise of fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep, who has leaped six places to a career-best 33rd spot following figures of four for 78 in South Africa’s only innings.

South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by an innings and 118 runs in Johannesburg, which gave it a 3-0 series win.

The result means third-ranked South Africa has gained four points and has moved up to 107 points, two behind Australia, while seventh-ranked Sri Lanka has dropped four points to finish on 92 points.

The Wellington Test produced some exceptional batting performances from both the sides and these have been duly recognised in the latest Test player rankings.

Shakib Al Hasan, who scored 217 (highest individual score by a Bangladesh batsman in Test cricket) has achieved a career-high ranking of 23rd after jumping eight places, while captain Mushfiqur Rahim, who scored 159 and put on 359 runs for the fifth wicket with Shakib, has risen 10 places to claim 35th position.

New Zealand’s 539-run response to Bangladesh’s 595-8d revolved around left-handed opener Tom Latham who scored 177.

This performance is notable in the latest rankings as he has climbed five places to 31st.

After New Zealand was set a victory target of 217 runs, captain Kane Williamson stroked an undefeated 104 to help his side romp home with seven wickets to spare. For this achievement, fourth-ranked Williamson has earned 29 points which has put him just two points shy of third-ranked Joe Root.

If Williamson performs strongly at the Hagley Oval, then he will potentially return to number-three ranking.

Although the Test team rankings are updated at the end of a series, New Zealand has placed itself nicely to move ahead of Pakistan in team rankings.

However, to make it happen, it will have to win the Christchurch Test which starts on Friday.

If New Zealand wins the Test, then it will move one point ahead of Pakistan, while in case of a draw, it will join Pakistan on 97 points but will be behind by a fraction of a point.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings (after the conclusion of South Africa and Sri Lanka Test series)

Rank   Team              Points

1.     India                120

2.     Australia         109

3.     South Africa   107 (+4)

4.     England           101

5.     Pakistan          97

6.     New Zealand   96

7.     Sri Lanka        92 (-4)

8.     West Indies     69

9.     Bangladesh     65

10.  Zimbabwe       5

(Developed by David Kendix)

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (after Johannesburg and Wellington Tests)

Batsmen (top 10)

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

   1         ( - )        Steve Smith         Aus        933       60.15     937 v Pak at Melbourne 2016

   2         ( - )        Virat Kohli          Ind         875       50.10     886 v Eng at Mumbai 2016

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

   4         ( - )        K. Williamson     NZ         846       50.57     893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   5         ( - )        David Warner      Aus        812       49.16     880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   6         (+4)       Hashim Amla      SA         787       49.99     907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 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         (-1)        Quinton de Kock SA         760*     51.04     769 v SL at Cape Town 2017

  10        (-1)        AB de Villiers     SA         755       50.46     935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

Selected

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

16         (+1)       Ross Taylor         NZ         703        46.75    871 v WI at Hamilton 2013

17         (-3)        Angelo Mathews SL          702        46.08    877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014

  20        (+2)       Tamim Iqbal        Ban        666        40.35    707 v Eng at Old Trafford 2010

  21=      (-2)        Faf du Plessis      SA         664        43.68    710 v WI at Port Elizabeth 2014

              ( - )        Dean Elgar           SA         664        38.60    673 v SL at Cape Town 2017

  23        (+8)       Shakib Al Hasan  Ban        659!      40.85    659 v NZ at Wellington 2017

  28        (+1)       Mominul Haque  Ban        636*     51.15    661 v Pak at Mirpur 2015

  31        (+5)       Tom Latham        NZ         617!      39.05    617 v Ban at Wellington 2017

  32        (-6)        D. Chandimal      SL          612        41.08    692 v Aus at Colombo (SSC) 2016

  33        (+9)       JP Duminy           SA         593!      34.77    593 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

  34        ( - )        BJ Watling          NZ         591        38.84    644 v Eng at Headingley 2015

  35        (+10)     Mushfiqur Rahim              Ban        572        33.58    604 v Zim at Mirpur 2014

  36        (+3)       Kusal Mendis      SL          571*     31.55    692 v Aus at Galle 2016

  37        (-5)        Stephen Cook      SA         570*     41.00    638 v SL at Port Elizabeth 2016

  40        (-7)        D. de Silva           SL          551*     45.00    612 v Zim at Harare 2016

  44        ( - )        D. Karunaratne    SL          527        32.83    619 v WI at Galle 2015

Bowlers (top 10)

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

   1         ( - )        R. Ashwin            Ind         887        24.96    904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016

   2         ( - )        Ravindra Jadeja   Ind         879!      24.07    879 v Eng at Chennai 2016

   3         ( - )        Josh Hazlewood  Aus        860!      24.78    860 v Pak at Sydney 2017

   4         ( - )        Rangana Herath   SL          827        28.31    867 v Zim at Harare 2016

   5         (+3)       Kagiso Rabada    SA         821*!    21.76    821 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

   6         (-1)        Dale Steyn           SA         819        22.30    909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   7         (-1)        James Anderson  Eng        810        28.50    884 v SL at Durham 2016

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

   9         ( - )        Vernon Philander SA         798        21.40    912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

  10        ( - )        Mitchell Starc     Aus        770        28.29    805 v Pak at Brisbane 2016

Selected

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

  11        ( - )        Neil Wagner        NZ         758        28.81    760 v SA at Centurion 2016

  12        ( - )        Trent Boult          NZ         718        29.36    825 v Eng at Lord's 2015

  13        ( - )        Tim Southee        NZ         680        32.02    799 v WI at Jamaica 2014

  15        ( - )        Shakib Al Hasan  Ban        661        32.44    700 v Zim at Khulna 2014

  16        ( - )        Dilruwan Perera  SL          652*     27.85    674 v Zim at Harare 2016

  24        ( - )        D. Prasad             SL          555*     35.97    632 v WI at Colombo (PSS) 2015

  33        (+6)       Nuwan Pradeep   SL          477*!    42.98    477 v SA at Johannesburg 2017

  34        (-4)        Suranga Lakmal  SL          473*     45.10    500 v SA at Cape Town 2017

  36        (-1)        Mehedi Hasan     Ban        458*     22.80    463 v Eng at Mirpur 2016

  39        (-2)        Taijul Islam         Ban        432*     32.13    446 v Pak at Khulna 2015

  42        ( - )        Doug Bracewell   NZ         382*     38.83    538 v WI at Jamaica 2012

  45        ( - )        Imran Tahir         SA         372*     40.24    426 v Ind at Nagpur 2015

  47        (-1)        Mark Craig          NZ         369*     46.52    405 v Aus at Wellington 2016

All-rounders (top five)

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Points    Highest Rating

   1         ( - )        R. Ashwin            Ind         482       493 v Eng at Mohali 2016

   2         ( - )        Shakib Al Hasan  Ban        436!      436 v NZ at Wellington 2017

   3         ( - )        Ravindra Jadeja   Ind         376*/ !  376 v Eng at Chennai 2016

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

   5         ( - )        Moeen Ali           Eng        312 /*   347 v Ind at Rajkot 2016

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