Smith and McCullum lead batsmen's charge in latest ICC player rankings

New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets in Christchurch, while Australia and India Test in Melbourne and South Africa and West Indies Test in Port Elizabeth ended in draws.

Smith, who scored a Test best 192 in the first innings, has gained two places to claim fifth spot for the first time in his career. He now trails number-one ranked AB de Villiers, who has regained the top spot from Kumar Sangakkara, by 40 ratings points.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and Virat Kohli are the other batsmen inside the top 20 to make upward movements. McCullum, who scored 195, has achieved a career-best 12th position by climbing two places. Kohli’s contributions of 169 and 54 have earned him four places and has put him in 15th place.

Also moving in the right direction are Chris Rogers of Australia (24th, up by four places), Ajinkya Rahane (26th, up by 15 places), Kraigg Brathwaite (37th, up by 11 places), Marlon Samuels (37th, up by seven places) and Dean Elgar (50th, up by 13 places).

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, Australia’s Ryan Harris has moved up two places to second following his six wickets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), while Trent Boult has achieved a best-ever ranking of seventh after rising two places. Boult had figures of three for 25 and four for 100.

Bowler outside the top 20 and moving in the right direction include Neil Wagner (22nd, up by two places), Umesh Yadav (36th, up by eight places), Mohammad Shami (38th, up by eight places), Josh Hazlewood (53rd, up by 16 places) and Imran Tahir (58th, up by six places).

Dale Steyn has retained his number-one ranking and is ahead of Harris by 54 ratings points.

There is no change to the top five in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test All-Rounders. Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh leads the field, followed by Vernon Philander of South Africa and India’s Ravichandran Ashwin.

Meanwhile, South Africa is just a draw away from retaining the Reliance ICC Test Championship mace and with it winning a cash award of USD500,000. If South Africa draws the Cape Town Test and Australia wins in Sydney, then South Africa will finish on 122 ratings points, compared to Australia’s 119 ratings points.

However, if the West Indies wins in Cape Town Test and Australia wins in Sydney, then Australia will finish ahead of South Africa by a fraction of a point (0.2).

The side that will finishes second will pocket USD390,000, while England and Pakistan have been guaranteed USD280,000 and USD170,000 after sealing third and fourth positions, respectively, following the Christchurch Test result.

The annual cut-off for the Reliance ICC Test Championship is 1 April 2015. But with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be played from 14 February to 29 March 2015, the current Test series are the last for the season.

Upcoming Test fixtures

Australia v India
6-10 Jan – 4th Test, Sydney

South Africa v West Indies
2-6 Jan – 3rd Test, Cape Town

New Zealand v Sri Lanka

3-7 Jan – 2nd Test, Wellington

Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 31 December, after Boxing Day Tests)

Batsmen

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

   1           (+1)         AB de Villiers        SA           893         51.43     935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

   2           (-1)          K. Sangakkara     SL           891         58.22     938 v Eng at Kandy 2007

   3           ( - )          Hashim Amla       SA           887         52.40     907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   4           ( - )          Angelo Mathews  SL           877!       52.83     877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014

   5           (+2)         Steven Smith        Aus         853!       50.38     853 v Ind at Melbourne 2014

   6           (-1)          S.Chanderpaul     WI          848         52.53     901 v NZ at Napier 2008

   7           ( - )          Younus Khan       Pak         818         53.37     880 v SL at Lahore 2009

   8           (-2)          David Warner       Aus         815         48.06     880 v Ind at Adelaide 2014

   9           ( - )          Joe Root                Eng         789!       50.94     789 v Ind at The Oval 2014

  10         (+1)         Misbah-ul-Haq    Pak         777         49.15     842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014
  11         (-1)          Ross Taylor          NZ          772         45.96     871 v WI at Hamilton 2013

  12         (+2)         B. McCullum        NZ          760!       39.24     760 v SL at Christchurch 2014

  13         (-1)          Kane Williamson NZ          753!       41.89     753 v SL at Christchurch 2014

  14         (-1)          Michael Clarke    Aus         740         50.79     900 v SL at Melbourne 2012

  15         (+4)         Virat Kohli            Ind          737         44.41     784 v NZ at Wellington 2014

  16         ( - )          Faf du Plessis        SA           710*!    52.50     710 v WI at Port Elizabeth 2014

  17         (-2)          M. Jayawardene  SL           695         49.84     883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009

  18         (-1)          Asad Shafiq          Pak         673         40.23     680 v SA at Cape Town 2013

  19         (-2)          C. Pujara               Ind          654         47.11     851 v SA at Durban 2013

  20         ( - )          Murali Vijay         Ind          653!       39.77     653 v Aus at Melbourne 2014

Selected Rankings

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

  24         (+4)         Chris Rogers         Aus         643*      37.40     694 v Eng at Sydney 2014

  26         (+15)      Ajinkya Rahane  Ind          634*!    44.60     634 v Aus at Melbourne 2014

  36         (-1)          MS Dhoni              Ind          581         38.09     662 v SA at Kolkata 2010

  37         (+11)      K. Brathwaite       WI          579*!    39.85     579 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2014

  38         (+7)         Marlon Samuels  WI          573         35.21     672 v Zim at Bridgetown 2013

  45         ( - )          Shane Watson      Aus         534         35.49     729 v Eng at Perth 2010

  46         (-3)          Kaushal Silva       SL           528*      35.39     541 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014

  47         ( - )          Alviro Petersen     SA           515         35.36     655 v NZ at Cape Town 2013

  48         (-8)          Tom Latham        NZ          513*      42.86     569 v Pak at Dubai 2014

  49         ( - )          BJ Watling            NZ          512         34.75     574 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2014

  50         (+13)      Dean Elgar            SA           490*!    36.05     490 v WI at Port Elizabeth 2014

Bowlers

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

   1           ( - )          Dale Steyn            SA           906         22.56     909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   2           (+2)         Ryan Harris          Aus         851         22.77     870 v SA at Cape Town 2014

   3           (-1)          Rangana Herath  SL           842         29.06     851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014

   4           (-1)          Vernon Philander SA           822         21.13     912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

   5           (-1)          Mitchell Johnson Aus         812         27.84     849 v Pak at Dubai 2014

   6           ( - )          James Anderson  Eng         806         29.72     813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011

   7           (+2)         Trent Boult           NZ          805!       27.19     805 v SL at Christchurch 2014

   8           (-1)          Stuart Broad         Eng         774         29.90     783 v WI at Lord's 2012

   9           (+1)         Tim Southee         NZ          767         30.11     799 v WI at Kingston 2014

  10         (-3)          Kemar Roach       WI          766         25.98     774 v SA at Centurion 2014

  11         (+1)         Morne Morkel      SA           730         29.42     776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

  12         (-1)          Saeed Ajmal         Pak         725         28.10     855 v Zim at Harare 2013

  13         (+1)         Shakib Al Hasan Ban         673         31.42     700 v Zim at Khulna 2014

  14         (-1)          Pragyan Ojha       Ind          670         30.26     773 v Eng at Kolkata 2012

  15         (-1)          R. Ashwin              Ind          668         29.85     808 v WI at Mumbai 2013

  16         ( - )          Peter Siddle           Aus         654         30.45     816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013

  17         ( - )          Junaid Khan         Pak         620*      28.83     652 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014

  18         ( - )          Abdur Rehman    Pak         618*      29.39     739 v Eng at Dubai 2012

  19         ( - )          Nathan Lyon        Aus         588         34.96     648 v Eng at Melbourne 2013

  20         ( - )          Ishant Sharma     Ind          580         37.30     671 v WI at Dominica 2011

Selected Rankings

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

  21         ( - )          Sulieman Benn    WI          550*      37.35     574 v Ban at St Lucia 2014

  22         (+2)         Neil Wagner          NZ          542*      34.48     549 v WI at Bridgetown 2014

  26         (-1)          Dilruwan Perera   SL           506*      30.08     531 v Pak at Galle 2014

  28         (+1)         S. Eranga               SL           483*      34.86     541 v Eng at Headingley 2014

  36         (+8)         Umesh Yadav      Ind          412*!    33.47     412 v Aus at Melbourne 2014

  38         (+8)         M. Shami              Ind          398*      37.90     422 v NZ at Wellington 2014

  43         (-2)          Shane Watson      Aus         388*      33.36     633 v SA at Cape Town 2011

  50         (+1)         Suranga Lakmal  SL           346*!    47.95     346 v NZ at Christchurch 2014

  53         (+16)      Josh Hazlewood  Aus         324*!    28.55     324 v Ind at Melbourne 2014

  58         (+6)         Imran Tahir          SA           304*      46.39     312 v Pak at Dubai 2013

  60         ( - )          Jerome Taylor      WI          303*      35.45     717 v Eng at Kingston 2009

All-rounders

Rank      (+/-)       Player                   Team     Pts          HS Rating

1              ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan Ban        398        419 v Zim at Khulna 2014

   2           ( - )          Vernon Philander SA          372*/    376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014

   3           ( - )          R. Ashwin              Ind         325*/    419 v WI at Mumbai 2013

   4           ( - )          Mitchell Johnson Aus         297        384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009

   5           ( - )          Stuart Broad         Eng        296        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