Bumrah within sight as Australia bowlers rise in Test rankings
Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon made ground on the India pacer after they shared 14 wickets between them in the opening Test against New Zealand.
A pair of experienced Australian bowlers have been rewarded for their efforts against New Zealand by making rapid gains in the latest ICC Men's Test Player Rankings.
While India pace spearhead Jaspit Bumrah leads the way on the list for Test bowlers, both pacer Josh Hazlewood (up one place to fourth) and spinner Nathan Lyon (up two spots to sixth) have closed the gap following superb performances during the opening Test of their trans-Tasman showdown against the Kiwis in Wellington.
Hazlewood collected a pair of New Zealand wickets in each innings of the emphatic 172-run victory, while Lyon helped himself to 10 scalps in total as Australia dominated the eagerly-awaited contest at Basin Reserve.
It leaves Australia with four players inside the top 12 of the current rankings for Test bowlers, with skipper Pat Cummins (fifth) and left-armer Mitchell Starc (12th) making up the highly-rated quartet.
Australia’s Nathan Lyon surpassed Courtney Walsh to claim the No.7 spot in the all-time Test wicket-takers list 💫#WTC25 | #NZvAUS pic.twitter.com/ngmioPA9z7
— ICC (@ICC) March 1, 2024
Matt Henry and Glenn Phillips each collected a five-wicket haul during that first Test against Australia, with the former moving up seven places to 18th on the list for Test bowlers and the latter improving 19 spots to 48th.
It's a similar story on the latest rankings for Test batters, with Australia star Cameron Green continuing his emergence as one of best all-rounders in the world as he reached a new career-high rating following his Player of the Match heroics against New Zealand.
Green hit an unbeaten 174* in the first innings and a decent knock of 34 in the second to help guide the Aussies to victory and jumped up a total of 22 place to reach 23rd on the updated Test batter rankings.
Kane Williamson remains well out in front on the Test batter rankings despite scores of just zero and nine in Wellington, while Australia veteran Steve Smith sees his rating drop below 800 points for the first time since 2014 and loses one spot to third on the same list after knocks of 31 and zero against the Kiwis.
Phillips (up 18 spots to 52nd) and fellow Kiwi Rachin Ravindra (up five places to 76th) made some ground on the rankings for Test batters, while Phillips (up 12 places to equal 11th) also made some movement on the list for Test all-rounders.
There was also some joy for a trio of Ireland players following their historic victory over Afghanistan in the one-off Test in Abu Dhabi, with Lorcan Tucker (up 15 spots to 56th) and Andy Balbirnie (up 12 places to 87th) progressing up the Test rankings for batters and pacer Mark Adair (up 30 spots to 69th) doing the same on the list for bowlers.
It was a relatively quiet week on the rankings for the white-ball formats, although a pair of Sri Lanka stars made some ground on the list for T20I batters and showed some good signs ahead of June's ICC Men's T20 World Cup with strong showings in the opening game of their series against Bangladesh.
Hard-hitting right-hander Kusal Mendis rose four places to 30th and a new career-high rating following his half-century in Sylhet, while teammate and acting captain Charith Asalanka improved seven spots to equal 33rd after his unbeaten 44 in the same match that included six sixes.
There was also a debut in the T20I rankings for batters for Netherlands opener Michael Levitt, with the right-hander entering in 49th place following a century and two half-centuries from his first five matches in the shortest format.