Williamson heads into the new year atop ICC Test Rankings

• Cricket365
• December 31, 2020

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has broken the Steve Smith/Virat Kohli stranglehold on Test batting’s number one ranking.

Williamson was man of the match in New Zealand’s first Test against Pakistan in Tauranga thanks largely to a first-innings century.

Final ICC Test rankings update of 2020

Willamson briefly occupied the top spot towards the end of 2015, but once he slipped out either Smith or Kohli have been number one since. 

This year, Smith was at the top for 313 days and Kohli for 51, before Williamson surged ahead of his two contemporaries. Curiosly all three players represented their countries at the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2008.

In Thursday’s year-ending update, that includes performances from the three Boxing Day Tests. The second Test between Australia and India in Melbourne and the first Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Centurion and New Zealand’s meeting with Pakistan 

Williamson has gained 13 rating points for his effort of 129 and 21 to go 11 points clear of Kohli and 13 ahead of Smith. 

Kohli is on paternity leave for the last three Tests of India’s ongoing series against Australia while Smith’s MCG outing could only get him scores of zero and eight.

The Black Caps Ross Taylor (up three places to 14th) also makes a move up the rank9ings while 26-year-old fast bowler Kyle Jamieson has reached the top 30 after just five Tests, following his hauls of three for 35 and two for 35 in Tauranga.

For Pakistan, Fawad Alam’s second-innings century has lifted him 80 places to 102nd position while wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan’s scores of 71 and 60 have helped him advance 27 places to a career-best 47th position. 

Left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi moved from 35th to 33rd after grabbing four wickets in the first innings.

Rahane up to six

Ajinkya Rahane, leading in Kohli’s absence, has gained big after guiding India to a series-levelling eight-wicket win in Melbourne with scores of 112 and 27 not out. Rahane has advanced five places to reach sixth position, just one below his career-best of fifth attained in October 2019.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (up two places to seventh) and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah (up one place to ninth) have made notable gains within the top 10. 

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is another big gainer, moving up 11 spots to a career best-equalling 36th place among batsmen after a handy knock of 57 in his only innings in Melbourne and gaining four places to reach 14th place among bowlers after finishing with three wickets in the match. He remains third among all-rounders but has reduced the gap with Jason Holder 34 to seven points.

Debutants Shubman Gill and Mohammad Siraj have made notable entries in 76th and 77th positions in the list for batsmen and bowlers, respectively. Gill scored 45 and 35 not out opening the innings while Siraj finished with five wickets in the match.

Australia left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc’s four wickets in the match have helped him reach a career best-equalling fifth position. Matthew Wade’s scores of 30 and 40 as opener helped him reach 50th among batsmen from 55th while Cameron Green has gained 36 slots to reach 115th position.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (up two places to seventh) and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah (up one place to ninth) have made notable gains within the top 10. 

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is another big gainer, moving up 11 spots to a career best-equalling 36th place among batsmen after a handy knock of 57 in his only innings in Melbourne and gaining four places to reach 14th place among bowlers after finishing with three wickets in the match. He remains third among all-rounders but has reduced the gap with Jason Holder 34 to seven points.

Debutants Shubman Gill and Mohammad Siraj have made notable entries in 76th and 77th positions in the list for batsmen and bowlers, respectively. Gill scored 45 and 35 not out opening the innings while Siraj finished with five wickets in the match.

Australia left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc’s four wickets in the match have helped him reach a career best-equalling fifth position. Matthew Wade’s scores of 30 and 40 as opener helped him reach 50th among batsmen from 55th while Cameron Green has gained 36 slots to reach 115th position.

Proteas on the move

In Centurion, a knock of 199 by Faf du Plessis saw him not only win the player of the match award but also gain 14 places to reach 21st position, one behind team-mate Dean Elgar, who too gained four spots after a knock of 95. Lungi Ngidi has gained four places and is 56th among bowlers.

For Sri Lanka, Dinesh Chandimal’s knocks of 85 and 25 have lifted him three places to 38th while Dhananjaya de Silva (up nine places to 34th) and Kusal Perera (up four places to 60th) have also made notable gains among batsmen. Left-arm fast bowler Vishwa Fernando has gained two slots to reach 45th position after his three-wicket haul.

In the Test Team Rankings, New Zealand are in line to wrest the top spot from Australia, who remain fractionally ahead since the Test team rankings are updated only at the end of each series. Even a draw in the second Test against Pakistan though could see New Zealand take the top spot. The predictor function is available here.

ICC Test Rankings

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts       Avge   Highest Rating
1     (+2)    K Williamson           NZ        890      52.90    915 v Ban at Hamilton 2019
2     ( – )    Virat Kohli              India      879      53.41    937 v Eng at Southampton 2018
3     (-2)    Steve Smith            Aus        877      61.33    947 v SA at Durban 2018
4     ( – )    M Labuschagne       Aus       850*!    58.81    850 v India at Melbourne 2020
5     ( – )    Babar Azam            Pak       789       45.44    800 v Ban at Rawalpindi 2020
6     (+5)    Ajinkya Rahane     India      784       43.40    825 v NZ at Indore 2016
7     (-1)    David Warner          Aus       777      48.94    880 v NZ at Perth 2015
8     (-1)    Ben Stokes             Eng        760      37.84    827 v WI at Old Trafford 2020
9     ( – )    Joe Root                Eng        738      47.99    917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
10     (-2)    C Pujara               India       728      47.60    888 v SL at Nagpur 2017

Other selected rankings
 
Rank (+/-)      Player               Team   Pts        Avge    Highest Rating
14     (+3)    Ross Taylor             NZ      683       46.04    870 v WI at Hamilton 2013
20     (+4)    Dean Elgar              SA      639       39.04    784 v Aus at Johannesburg 2018
21     (+14)    Faf du Plessis         SA      638       41.41    734 v India at Centurion 2018
24     (+2)    Aiden Markram        SA      621*      39.26    759 v Aus at Johannesburg 2018
34     (+9)    D de Silva                SL      585       36.64    612 v Zim at Harare 2016
36     (+11)    R Jadeja               India   574!       35.66    574 v Aus at Melbourne 2020
38=    (+3)    D Chandimal           SL      572       41.10    755 v WI at St Lucia 2018
47     (+27)    M Rizwan              Pak     551*!     39.76    551 v NZ at Mount Maunganui 2020
50     (+5)    Matthew Wade        Aus     537*!     31.02    537 v India at Melbourne 2020
57     (+6)    T Bavuma                SA      499       31.40    627 v Pak at Cape Town 2019
60     (+4)    Kusal Perera             SL      492*     31.68    559 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2019
76     (NEW)    Shubman Gill        India   431*!     80.00    431 v Aus at Melbourne 2020
102=    (+80)    Fawad Alam         Pak     311*      38.20    445 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2009
115     (+36)    C Green                Aus     264*!     22.66    264 v India at Melbourne 2020

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank (+/-)      Player           Team      Pts      Avge    Highest Rating
1     ( – )    Pat Cummins       Aus        906      21.51    914 v Eng at Old Trafford 2019
2     ( – )    Stuart Broad        Eng        845     27.65    880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
3     ( – )    Neil Wagner         NZ         833     26.32    859 v Aus at Melbourne 2019
4     ( – )    Tim Southee        NZ         826!     28.54    826 v Pak at Mount Maunganui 2020
5     (+2)    Mitchell Starc      Aus        804      26.75    807 v NZ at Perth 2019
6     ( – )     Kagiso Rabada    SA         794      22.95    902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018
7     (+2)    R Ashwin           India       793     25.22    904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016
8     (-3)     J Hazlewood       Aus        790      25.86    864 v India at Bengaluru 2017
9     (+1)    Jasprit Bumrah   India      783*    20.68    834 v WI at Jamaica 2019
10     (-2)    J Anderson          Eng       781      26.79    903 v India at Lord’s 2018

Other selected rankings

Rank (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts      Avge    Highest Rating
14     (+4)    R Jadeja               India       726     24.48    899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017
28=    (+5)    Kyle Jamieson       NZ        521*!   14.44    521 v Pak at Mount Maunganui 2020
33     (+2)    Shaheen Afridi       Pak        483*!   32.12    483 v NZ at Mount Maunganui 2020
45     (+2)    V Fernando             SL        330*    34.65    385 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2019
53     (+5)    Naseem Shah        Pak        306*    35.40    311 v Ban at Rawalpindi 2020
56     (+4)    Lungi Ngidi            SA         284*    26.55    405 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018
61     (RE)    Faheem Ashraf       Pak        251*    28.75    292 v SA at Johannesburg 2019
70     (NEW)    Lutho Sipamla     SA         212*!    16.66    212 v SL at Centurion 2020
71     (RE)    Dasun Shanaka       SL         208*    32.63    269 v India at Kolkata 2017
77     (NEW)    M Siraj               India      188*!    15.40    188 v Aus at Melbourne 2020

All-rounders (top five)
 
Rank (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts      Highest Rating
1     ( – )    Ben Stokes             Eng        446    497 v WI at Old Trafford 2020
2     ( – )    Jason Holder           WI        423    485 v Eng at Southampton 2020
3     ( – )    R Jadeja               India       416    438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017
4     ( – )    S Al Hasan             Ban        366    489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017
5     ( – )    Mitchell Starc         Aus        301    346 v India at Pune 2017

*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