New Zealand bowlers star in Reliance ICC Rankings after historic win

New Zealand won the third Test by 53 runs to claim its first away series triumph against a top-eight team in 12 years.

Spearheading the charge up the rankings are Trent Boult, Mark Craig, and Tim Southee, who all claimed three victims apiece in the second innings to stop the host in its tracks, after New Zealand set the West Indies a target of 308 on the last day of the match.

As a result, paceman Trent Boult, who’s ability to move the ball both ways has made him a mainstay in the New Zealand side, has broken into the top ten on the rankings table. He has climbed two spots to bag ninth position after returning match figures of two for 71 and three for 28.

He became the second New Zealander in the top ten, joining Tim Southee, who demolished the West Indies middle order in the second innings, claiming three victims for just 28 runs, thereby retaining sixth spot.

Mark Craig has proved himself to be an able replacement for Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel, taking a total of four wickets for 174 runs in the match to leap seven spots to claim 71st position on the rankings table.

Neil Wagner’s four for 64 and one for 50 has helped him achieve his career-best ranking to date, with the left-hander jumping six places to land just outside the top 20 at number 22.

West Indies will take consolation from the fact that Kemar Roach has been rewarded for his match haul of eight wickets for 116 runs with a career-best ranking of 10th. Roach has jumped five places and now shares the position and the same ratings points as Australia’s Peter Siddle.

West Indies’ debutant Jason Holder has entered the rankings table for the first time in 96th position, while Jimmy Neesham has broken into the top 100 for the first time, jumping up 10 places to land on 97.

Jimmy Neesham is also seen heading in the right direction in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen. Having made 78 runs in the first innings and following it up with 51 in the second, Neesham has shown the most improvement on the batting table. He has climbed 17 places to achieve his career best ranking to date, and now sits in 43rd position.

New Zealand’s centurion Kane Williamson has been rewarded for his 161 not out in the second innings with a jump of five places to claim 14th spot.

Also making positive moves in the batting rankings are West Indies’ Kirk Edwards in 58th (up by four) and Kraigg Brathwaite in 62nd (up by seven).

Meanwhile, the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings Table has shown no movement. Australia remains top-ranked with 123 ratings points, with South Africa a close second. However, with England and India locking horns in a Test series beginning 9 July, and Sri Lanka playing against South Africa from 16 July, some movement is likely in the coming weeks.

A 5-0 clean sweep by either fifth-ranked England or fourth-ranked India could see either team leap into third position, while a loss by that margin could see them drop as low as seventh.  For South Africa, a 2-0 series’ win could see the side topple Australia from the top of the perch to regain the number one position, while a clean sweep for Sri Lanka could see the side move as high as fourth in the Test rankings.

Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings table (as on 30 June, after the West Indies v New Zealand series)

Rank    (+/-)       Team                          Rating      (+/-)

1                         Australia                      123           

2                         South Africa               123          

3                         Pakistan                       103 

4                         India                            102  

5                         England                       100            

6                         Sri Lanka                       96             

7                         New Zealand                 93

8                         West Indies                   74

9                          Zimbabwe                    40

10                        Bangladesh                   21

(Developed by David Kendix)

Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Tests (as on 30 June, after Bridgetown Test):

Batsmen

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

   1           ( - )          AB de Villiers        SA           922        51.94      935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

   2           ( - )          K Sangakkara      SL           896        58.63      938 v Eng at Kandy 2007

   3           (+1)         Hashim Amla       SA           873        51.35      907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   4           (+1)         David Warner       Aus         871!       46.54     871 v SA at Cape Town 2014

   5           (-2)          S.Chanderpaul     WI          854        51.88      901 v NZ at Napier 2008

   6           ( - )          Misbah-ul-Haq    Pak         824!       48.75     824 v SL at Sharjah 2014

   7           ( - )          C Pujara                Ind          819*      58.92      851 v SA at Durban 2013

   8           ( - )          Michael Clarke    Aus         818        51.50      900 v SL at Melbourne 2012

   9           (-1)          Ross Taylor          NZ          795        46.43      871 v WI at Hamilton 2013

  10         ( - )          Virat Kohli            Ind          784!       46.51     784 v NZ at Wellington 2014

  11         ( - )          A Mathews           SL           761!       48.40     761 v Eng at Headingley 2014

  12         ( - )          Younus Khan       Pak         759        51.38      880 v SL at Lahore 2009

  13         ( - )          Steven Smith        Aus         737*!    40.02      737 v SA at Cape Town 2014

  14         (+5)         K Williamson        NZ          728!       40.28      728 v WI at Bridgetown 2014

  15         (-1)          M Jayawardena   SL           696        50.18      883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009

  16         (-1)          Chris Rogers         Aus         675*      38.14      694 v Eng at Sydney 2014

  17         ( - )          Kevin Pietersen    Eng         661        47.28      909 v WI at Headingley 2007

  18         ( - )          Ian Bell                  Eng         657        45.12      822 v Ind at The Oval 2011

  19         (-3)          B McCullum         NZ          651        37.10      724 v Ind at Wellington 2014

  20         (+1)         Faf du Plessis        SA           636*!    52.42      636 v Aus at Cape Town 2014

Selected Rankings

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

  21         (-1)          Darren Bravo       WI          633        43.92      709 v Aus at Port-of-Spain 2012

  28         (-3)          Chris Gayle           WI          605        42.00      755 v SL at Galle 2010

  37         (-3)          BJ Watling            NZ          556        37.11      574 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2014

  43         (+17)      Jimmy Neesham  NZ          519*!    64.00      519 v WI at Bridgetown 2014

  48         ( - )          Denesh Ramdin   WI          493!       27.74      493 v NZ at Bridgetown 2014

  58         (+4)         Kirk Edwards        WI          426*      34.21      524 v Aus at Bridgetown 2012

  62         (+7)         K Brathwaite        WI          408*!    28.72      408 v NZ at Bridgetown 2014

  67         (-15)       Tom Latham        NZ          387*      39.62      441 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2014

  76         (NEW)    Jason Holder        WI          350*!    45.00      350 v NZ at Bridgetown 2014

  83=       (-7)          H Rutherford        NZ          334*      27.08     454 v Eng at Wellington 2013

Bowlers

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

   1           ( - )          Dale Steyn            SA           898        23.01      908 v Pak at Johannesburg 2013

   2           ( - )          Ryan Harris          Aus         870!       22.56     870 v SA at Cape Town 2014

   3           ( - )          V Philander           SA           865        20.11      912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

   4           ( - )          M Johnson            Aus         844!       27.42     844 v SA at Cape Town 2014

   5           ( - )          Saeed Ajmal         Pak         787        27.46      855 v Zim at Harare 2013

   6           ( - )          Tim Southee         NZ          783        29.83      799 v WI at Kingston 2014

   7           ( - )          R Ashwin               Ind          744        28.50      808 v WI at Mumbai 2013

   8           ( - )          Rangana Herath  SL           739        30.51      838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012

   9           (+2)         Trent Boult           NZ          737*      27.45      767 v Ind at Wellington 2014

  10=       (+5)         Kemar Roach       WI          733!       27.04     733 v NZ at Bridgetown 2014

                (-1)          Peter Siddle           Aus         733        29.37      816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013

  12         (-2)          J Anderson            Eng         731        30.36      813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011

  13         (-1)          Pragyan Ojha       Ind          726        30.26      773 v Eng at Kolkata 2012

  14         (-1)          Stuart Broad         Eng         719        30.43      783 v WI at Lord's 2012

  15         (-1)          Abdur Rehman    Pak         705*      27.75      739 v Eng at Dubai 2012

  16         ( - )          Morne Morkel      SA           637        30.97      776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

  17         ( - )          Junaid Khan         Pak         623*!    29.07      623 v SL at Sharjah 2014

  18         (+1)         Shakib Al Hasan Ban        613        33.36      680 v WI at Mirpur 2011

  19         (+1)         Nathan Lyon        Aus         607        32.99      648 v Eng at Melbourne 2013

  20         (+1)         Zaheer Khan        Ind          581        32.94      752 v SA at Durban 2010

Selected Rankings

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

   21        (-3)          S Shillingford        WI          561*      34.55      652 v NZ at Dunedin 2013

   22        (+6)         Neil Wagner          NZ          549*!    33.89      549 v WI at Bridgetown 2014

   30        ( - )          Sulieman Benn    WI          461*      40.60      494 v SA at Bridgetown 2010

   38        (+1)         Doug Bracewell    NZ          364*      36.26      538 v WI at Kingston 2012

   42        (-5)          Jerome Taylor      WI          332*      34.45      717 v Eng at Kingston 2009

   71=      (+7)         Mark Craig           NZ          207*      40.83      256 v WI at Kingston 2014

   96        (NEW)    Jason Holder        WI          73*!       25.00      73 v NZ at Bridgetown 2014

   97        (+10)      Jimmy Neesham  NZ          70*!       49.75      70 v WI at Bridgetown 2014

All-rounders

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Highest Ranking

   1           ( - )          Vernon Philander SA           376*/ !  376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014

   2           ( - )          R Ashwin               Ind          373*/    419 v WI at Mumbai 2013

   3           ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        364        404 v Pak at Mirpur 2011

   4           ( - )          Mitchell Johnson Aus         280        384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009

  5           ( - )          Stuart Broad         Eng         274        382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012

Selected Rankings

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

   14        (-1)          Chris Gayle           WI          142/*    282 v Eng at St John's 2009

   17        (+1)         Trent Boult           NZ          139*/*  158 v Ind at Auckland 2014

   34        (+5)         Neil Wagner          NZ          89*/*!   89 v WI at Bridgetown 2014

   62        (+33)      Jimmy Neesham  NZ          36*/*!   36 v WI at Bridgetown 2014

   72        (NEW)    Jason Holder        WI          26*/*!   26 v NZ at Bridgetown 2014

Image: Wikimedia Commons