Stokes leads England’s charge in Reliance ICC Test Player Ranking

Ben Stokes, the star of England’s 124 runs victory over New Zealand in the Lord’s Test, has led the home side’s charge in the latest Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings, which were released on Tuesday morning.

Stokes, who along with Joe Root and Jos Buttler played in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2009-10 in New Zealand, scored 92 and 101, and also took three for 38 runs on the final day. For this performance, he not only won the player of the match award but has also vaulted in the rankings.

The 23-year-old Durham player has rocketed 27 places to 44th spot in the batting table; has moved up four places to 51stposition in the bowlers’ chart and has jumped 12 places to 13th spot in the all-rounders’ category.

All three are his career-best rankings to date and since he is still in a qualification period*, he can potentially move further up the ladder depending how he performs in the second Test.

There is further good news for England, whose vice-captain Joe Root has broken into the top five for the first time in his career. Root scored 98 and 84, for which he has been rewarded with a jump of three places that, in turn, has put him in fifth position, just one point behind Australia’s Steven Smith.

Alastair Cook’s epic 162 in the second innings has helped him return to the top 20 in 18th position after his effort earned him six places, Buttler’s contributions of 67 and 14 has given him a lift of nine places and has put him in 56th spot while Moeen Ali has gained 13 places and is now in 78th spot following scores of 58 and 43.

For New Zealand in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, the positive news is that sixth-ranked Kane Williamson has achieved a career-high rating of 860 points (gain of 21 points) and he remains in close pursuit of Smith and Root, while BJ Watling has moved up five places to 35th and Corey Anderson is in 76th spot after rising seven places.

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, New Zealand’s Trent Boult has achieved a career-best ranking to date. The left-arm fast bowler returned figures of four for 79 and five for 85, which has allowed him to leapfrog Rangana Herath of Sri Lanka and Australia’s Mitchell Johnson into fourth position.

Boult now trails Australia’s Ryan Harris by just one point, while England’s second-ranked James Anderson, who is one wicket short of becoming the first England bowler to take 400 Test wickets, is ahead by four points.

Dale Steyn comfortably leads the field and is the only bowler over the 900-point mark.

Meanwhile, England will move up to third and New Zealand will drop to seventh in the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings if the home side wins or draws the Headingley Test, which starts on Friday, 29 May. If New Zealand bounces back to draw the series, then New Zealand will slip to fourth and England will retain its fifth spot.

The Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings predictor function is availablehere.The Test rankings table, unlike the ODI & T20I tables, is updated after the series.

Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 26 May, after the Lord’s Test between England and New Zealand)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating
1 ( - ) K. Sangakkara SL 909 58.66 938 v Eng at Kandy 2007
2 ( - ) AB de Villiers SA 908 52.09 935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014
3 ( - ) Hashim Amla SA 891 52.78 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013
4 ( - ) Steven Smith Aus 873! 52.36 873 v Ind at Sydney 2015
5 (+3) Joe Root Eng 872! 56.80 872 v NZ at Lord's 2015
6 ( - ) Kane Williamson NZ 860! 46.95 860 v Eng at Lord's 2015
7 (-2) Angelo Mathews SL 841 51.50 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014
8 (-1) Younus Khan Pak 836 53.75 880 v SL at Lahore 2009
9 ( - ) David Warner Aus 805 48.20 880 v Ind at Adelaide 2014
10 ( - ) Virat Kohli Ind 774 46.30 784 v NZ at Wellington 2014

Selected Rankings

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating
14 (-1) Ross Taylor NZ 730 45.20 871 v WI at Hamilton 2013
16 (-1) B. McCullum NZ 708 38.64 760 v SL at Christchurch 2014
18 (+6) Alastair Cook Eng 696 46.67 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012
30 (-10) Gary Ballance Eng 621* 55.84 702 v WI at St George's 2015
33 (-2) Ian Bell Eng 604 44.22 822 v Ind at The Oval 2011
35 (+5) BJ Watling NZ 600! 39.48 600 v Eng at Lord's 2015
44 (+27) Ben Stokes Eng 540*! 36.00 540 v NZ at Lord's 2015
51 ( - ) Tom Latham NZ 498* 39.10 569 v Pak at Dubai 2014
56 (+9) Jos Buttler Eng 475*! 55.85 475 v NZ at Lord's 2015
76 (+7) Corey Anderson NZ 390*! 31.35 390 v Eng at Lord's 2015
77 (RE) Martin Guptill NZ 386 29.80 597 v WI at Kingston 2012
78 (+13) Moeen Ali Eng 385*! 32.35 385 v NZ at Lord's 2015
90 (-4) Stuart Broad Eng 326 22.84 505 v Ind at The Oval 2011
92 (-12) Mark Craig NZ 314* 32.20 378 v SL at Christchurch 2014

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave Econ HS Rating
1 ( - ) Dale Steyn SA 905 22.55 909 v WI at Centurion 2014
2 ( - ) James Anderson Eng 829 29.37 847 v WI at Bridgetown 2015
3 ( - ) Ryan Harris Aus 826 23.52 870 v SA at Cape Town 2014
4 (+2) Trent Boult NZ 825! 26.69 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015
5 (-1) Rangana Herath SL 807 29.57 851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014
6 (-1) Mitchell Johnson Aus 804 27.84 849 v Pak at Dubai 2014
7 ( - ) Vernon Philander SA 780 21.95 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013
8 ( - ) Stuart Broad Eng 779 29.78 783 v WI at Lord's 2012
9 (+1) Morne Morkel SA 727 29.35 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011
10 (+1) Saeed Ajmal Pak 710 28.10 855 v Zim at Harare 2013

Selected Rankings

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Ave Econ HS Rating
12 (-3) Tim Southee NZ 693 31.86 799 v WI at Kingston 2014
31 (+1) Moeen Ali Eng 458*! 29.84 458 v NZ at Lord's 2015
49 ( - ) Mark Craig NZ 339* 42.42 349 v SL at Wellington 2015
51 (+4) Ben Stokes Eng 324* 40.10 352 v Ind at Lord's 2014
77 (-3) Corey Anderson NZ 204* 38.46 377 v WI at Hamilton 2013
78 (NEW) Matt Henry NZ 196*! 33.16 196 v Eng at Lord's 2015
84 (-4) Kane Williamson NZ 173* 41.04 291 v Eng at Headingley 2013
92 (+6) Joe Root Eng 140*! 42.37 140 v NZ at Lord's 2015
100 (NEW) Mark Wood Eng 111*! 35.00 111 v NZ at Lord's 2015

All-rounders (top three)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts HS Rating
1 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 380 419 v Zim at Khulna 2014
2 ( - ) Vernon Philander SA 341*/ 376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014
3 ( - ) R. Ashwin Ind 318*/ 419 v WI at Mumbai 2013

For more information, go to www.relianceiccrankings.com.