Brook narrows the gap to number one Test batter in latest ICC Men's Player Rankings

Harry Brook made good ground with the bat in the latest ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings, falling just 41 rating points behind world’s number one, Joe Root, after his 171 in England’s first Test match against New Zealand in Christchurch.

Brook rose two places to second in the batters list with a career-best 854 points to Root’s 895, thanks to his seventh Test century which helped England to victory in the opener of the three-match ICC World Test Championship (WTC) series.

Ollie Pope and captain, Ben Stokes also made inroads among the batters, rising eight and seven slots to 32nd and 34th respectively.

There are some significant gains for South Africa and Sri Lanka’s players following the conclusion of the opening match of their two-game WTC series, which was won by an emphatic 233 runs by South Africa in Durban.

Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis hopped two places to seventh among the batters with a personal best 733 points, while the Proteas’ captain, Temba Bavuma made his first appearance in the top 10, leaping 14 slots to number 10 with career-best 715 rating points thanks to his scores of 70 and 113 in his team’s successful outing.

Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal climbed two places to 17th, with 682 points, while Tristan Stubbs continues his rise, jumping 29 places to 42nd with 576 points thanks to his 122 in the second innings.

Stubbs’ teammate, Marco Jansen’s 11 wickets, including his notable first innings spell of 7/13 in the match rewarded him with the biggest gains among the bowlers. He climbed 19 slots to his first appearance in the top 10 in ninth position and career-best 774 points. Jansen also rose 10 places in the all-rounders list to claim second place, behind India’s Raindra Jadeja, another first appearance in the top 10 and personal best milestone of 291 points.

In the ODI batters rankings, Pakistan’s Saim Ayub rose 12 slots to 78th and 39 spaces to 119th among the T20 batters following their success in Zimbabwe.

India remain at the top of the ICC World Test Championship table with 61.11 percentage points and South Africa move up to second place following their convincing victory against Sri Lanka with 59.26 percentage points. Australia slide to third place with 57.69 percentage points and Sri Lanka bring up fourth place with 50.00 percentage points. New Zealand bring up fifth place after they and England (sixth on the table) were fined three WTC competition points for maintaining slow over rates.

For the ICC World Test Championship standings, please click here.

To know more about the ICC Rankings, please click here.