Broad climbs to career high second in bowling rankings; Broad and Stokes on the rise amongst all-rounders
Joe Root has climbed to the top of the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen for the first time after helping England defeat Australia by an innings and 78 runs in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge, which the home side won within three days, for the second successive Test.
The Yorkshire man, who top scored with 130 in England’s innings, has overtaken Steven Smith at the summit and the Australia batsman has dropped two places to third, with South Africa’s AB de Villiers unmoved in second position. Root has also become just the sixth English player to hit the top of either the batting or bowling rankings since 1980. The full list is as follows; Ian Botham (bowling, 1980 for 361 days), David Gower (batting, from 1984-86 for 198 days), Graham Gooch (batting, from 1991-94 for 988 days), Michael Vaughan (batting, in 2003 for 44 days) and Steve Harmison (bowling, in 2004 for 120 days).
In lifting the Ashes, England captain Alastair Cook has become only the third English captain ever, after W.G. Grace and Mike Brearley, to win the coveted Urn twice at home. The left-handed batsman remains in 19th position, while Moeen Ali has broken into the top 50 for the first time and has climbed two places to 50th after scoring 38. There were also gains for Jonny Bairstow (up 19 places to 63rd), Stuart Broad (up two to 76th) and Adam Lyth (up one to 91st).
For Australia, David Warner has dropped out of the top 10 and is now in 11th place, while skipper Michael Clarke has dropped one place to 23rd. However Adam Voges’ second innings 51 not out has helped elevate the Perth man by seven places to 74th.
There was further good news for England in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers as Broad put in a man of the match performance, largely due to a notable spell in the opening innings where he took 8 for 15 runs. The 29-year-old has climbed to a career-high second place in the bowling rankings after inspiring the hosts to victory on his home ground. Broad’s ninth wicket of the match, captured in Australia’s second innings, has also seen him overtake Fred Trueman into fourth place in the all-time English leading wicket-takers. He has now captured 308 wickets in 83 Tests to date and is 17 behind Bob Willis on the all-time list. Broad has narrowed Dale Steyn’s lead to 53 points at the top, but as a consequence of his upward movement, his team-mate James Anderson has dropped one place to third, while Australia’s Mitchell Johnson has also fallen two places to seventh.
Elsewhere, there was upward movement for Ben Stokes who has soared 20 places to a career high 42nd, while Mark Wood has also moved up nine places to 57th. For Australia, Josh Hazlewood remains in 14th place, while Mitchell Starc has continued his recent ascent in all forms after taking six for 111 runs. As a result of that effort in the match, the left-arm fast bowler has moved up five places to a career high 15th.
After a fine all-round performance, Broad has also climbed one place to fourth in the ICC Player Rankings for Test All-rounders, while there was also a career high gain for Stokes who has vaulted eight places to ninth after a fine all-round performance.
The fifth and final Test starts at The Oval on Thursday, 20 August. Though the Test Team Rankings will be updated at the end of the series, if England wins the series 4-1, Australia will drop to 102 points, while England will advance to second place on 105 points. If Australia wins, in what is set to be Clarke’s final Test, it will stay ahead of England in the rankings on 106 points, with England on 102 points.
ICC TEST PLAYER RANKINGS (as on 9 August, after fourth Ashes Test in Trent Bridge)
Batsmen
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Avge HS Ranking
1 (+2) Joe Root Eng 917! 56.58 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
2 ( - ) AB de Villiers SA 890 52.09 935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014
3 (-2) Steven Smith Aus 884 54.66 936 v Eng at Lord's 2015
4 ( - ) Hashim Amla SA 881 52.48 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
5 ( - ) K. Sangakkara SL 874 58.04 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
6 ( - ) Angelo Mathews SL 860 51.67 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014
7 ( - ) Younus Khan Pak 829 54.07 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
8 ( - ) K. Williamson NZ 813 45.70 860 v Eng at Lord's 2015
9 ( - ) ChrisROGERS
Aus 763 42.86 793 v Eng at Lord's 201510 (+1) Virat Kohli Ind 755 45.73 784 v NZ at Wellington 2014
Selected rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Avge HS Ranking
11 (-1) David Warner Aus 754 46.28 880 v Ind at Adelaide 2014
19 ( - ) Alastair Cook Eng 707 46.34 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
23 (-1) Michael Clarke Aus 645 49.30 900 v SL at Melbourne 2012
30 ( - ) IanBELL
Eng 603 43.36 822 v Ind at The Oval 201138 (-3) Ben Stokes Eng 554* 33.42 594 v Aus at Lord's 2015
50 (+2) Moeen Ali Eng 506*! 31.09 506 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
60 (-2) Jos Buttler Eng 432* 36.86 494 v NZ at Headingley 2015
63 (+19) Jonny Bairstow Eng 425* 28.00 461 v Aus at Durham 2013
65 (-11) Shaun Marsh Aus 420*
74 (+7) Adam Voges Aus 382* 41.71 441 v WI at Jamaica 2015
76 (+2) Stuart Broad Eng 370 23.15 505 v Ind at The Oval 2011
81 (-5) M. Johnson Aus 351 22.60 477 v Eng at Lord's 2009
87 (-5) Mitchell Starc Aus 318* 24.58 368 v Eng at The Oval 2013
91 (+1) Adam Lyth Eng 283* 21.45 333 v Aus at Cardiff 2015
Bowlers
Rank (+/-) Player
1 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 905 22.48 909 v WI at Centurion 2014
2 (+3) Stuart Broad Eng 852! 28.97 852 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
3 (-1) James Anderson Eng 815 29.38 847 v WI at Barbados 2015
4 (-1) Trent Boult NZ 814 27.12 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015
5 (-1) Yasir Shah Pak 810*! 24.81 810 v SL at Pallekele 2015
6 (+1) V. Philander SA 770 22.13 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013
7 (-2) M. Johnson Aus 765 28.03 849 v Pak at Dubai 2014
8 ( - ) Rangana Herath SL 752 30.17 851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014
9 ( - ) Tim Southee NZ 713 31.63 799 v WI at Jamaica 2014
10 ( - ) Morne Morkel SA 705 29.66 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
Selected rankings
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Avge HS Ranking
14 ( - ) Josh Hazlewood Aus 634*! 21.75 634 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2015
15 (+5) Mitchell Starc Aus 627*! 31.06 627 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2015
18 (-3) Nathan Lyon Aus 604 34.37 648 v Eng at Melbourne 2013
20 (-1) Steven Finn Eng 568* 28.54 624 v NZ at Headingley 2013
34 (-1) Moeen Ali Eng 438* 36.19 480 v Aus at Cardiff 2015
42 (+20) Ben Stokes Eng 378*! 40.24 378 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
57 (+9) Mark Wood Eng 297* 35.05 306 v Aus at Cardiff 2015
All-rounders
Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Ranking
1 ( - ) S. Al Hasan Ban 384 419 v Zim at Khulna 2014
2 ( - ) V. Philander SA 337*/ 376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014
3 ( - ) R. Ashwin Ind
4 (+1) Stuart Broad Eng 315 382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012
5 (-1) M. Johnson Aus 269 384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009
*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
Source-ICC