Abbas leads big gains for Pakistan bowlers in ICC rankings

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Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas has broken into the top 20 on the ICC Test Rankings for Bowlers after just seven Tests.

Abbas took eight wickets in Pakistan’s nine-wicket win at Lord’s against England and won Player of the Match in the Test that concluded on Sunday.

It took him to a career-best 644 ranking points in the latest update on Monday 28 May.

Abbas led a trio of Pakistan pacers making strides up the charts. Mohammad Amir climbed five places to 32 after picking up 1/41 and 4/36. Hasan Ali, whose 4/51 nudged England to fold for 184 in their first innings, shot up 26 places to a career-best 247 points and 61st on the charts.

Shadab Khan, the 19-year-old leg-spinner playing his third Test, also broke into the top 100 among Test bowlers.

The only consolation for England was to have Jos Buttler making a re-entry to the top 100 at 83 after being out of the Test team for a while, while Dom Bess made his debut at 116 after his vital second-innings half-century.

Alastair Cook’s 70 in the first innings helped him gain a position to 15. Behind him is Jonny Bairstow, who slipped three spots.

This is the first players’ rankings update since AB de Villiers bowed out of all international cricket. It means that the South African great finishes his career as No.6 among Test batsmen and No.2 in one-day internationals.

Steve Smith remains the top-ranked batsmen in Tests, while Kagiso Rabada and Shakib Al Hasan lead the bowling and all-rounders’ charts respectively.

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