Rangana Herath and Kusal Mendis have charged up the ICC Test player rankings after steering Sri Lanka to a 106-run victory over number-one ranked Australia in the first Test in Pallekele on Saturday.
Herath, who took four for 49 and five for 54, has returned to the top 10 in ninth position after rising four places in the bowling chart, while Mendis, who won the player of the match award for his 176 in the second innings, has vaulted 27 places to 21st position in the batting table.
Herath’s rise means he has opened up a nine-position gap on his nearest team-mate Dhammika Prasad, who is nursing a shoulder injury. The Sri Lanka left-arm spinner is also the fourth spinner inside the top 10 after number-one ranked Ravichandaran Ashwin of India, Pakistan’s fifth-ranked Yasir Shah and sixth-ranked Ravindra Jadeja of India.
Mendis’s rise means he is now the third highest-ranked Sri Lanka batsman after Angelo Mathews (13th after dropping two places). Dimuth Karunaratne 36th (after slipping two places) and Kaushal Silva 43rd (after falling seven places).
The batting list is headed by Australia captain Steve Smith, although his 24-point gap with England’s second-ranked Joe Root has been trimmed to 20 points.
ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 31 July, after Bulawayo and Pallekele Tests)
Batsmen (top 20)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Points | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( – ) | Steve Smith | Aus | 921 | 59.65 | 936 v Eng at Lord’s 2015 |
| 2 | ( – ) | Joe Root | Eng | 901 | 56.15 | 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015 |
| 3 | ( – ) | Kane Williamson | NZ | 866 | 49.73 | 893 v Aus at Perth 2015 |
| 4 | ( – ) | Hashim Amla | SA | 860 | 51.45 | 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013 |
| 5 | (+1) | Adam Voges | Aus | 820*! | 87.25 | 820 v SL at Pallekele 2016 |
| 6 | (-1) | AB de Villiers | SA | 818 | 50.46 | 935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014 |
| 7 | (+1) | Misbah-ul-Haq | Pak | 790 | 48.95 | 842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014 |
| 8 | (+1) | Alastair Cook | Eng | 788 | 47.48 | 874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012 |
| 9 | (+1) | Younus Khan | Pak | 784 | 53.19 | 880 v SL at Lahore 2009 |
| 10= | (+2) | Virat Kohli | Ind | 757 | 46.28 | 784 v NZ at Wellington 2014 |
| (-3) | David Warner | Aus | 757 | 48.98 | 880 v NZ at Perth 2015 | |
| 12 | (+3) | Ross Taylor | NZ | 747 | 47.00 | 871 v WI at Hamilton 2013 |
| 13= | (-2) | Angelo Mathews | SL | 738 | 47.86 | 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014 |
| ( – ) | Asad Shafiq | Pak | 738 | 43.15 | 758 v Eng at Lord’s 2016 | |
| 15 | (-1) | Ajinkya Rahane | Ind | 732 | 44.35 | 753 v SA at Delhi 2015 |
| 16 | ( – ) | Jonny Bairstow | Eng | 712! | 40.13 | 712 v Pak at Old Trafford 2016 |
| 17 | ( – ) | Murali Vijay | Ind | 679 | 40.56 | 747 v SA at Bengaluru 2015 |
| 18= | ( – ) | Sarfraz Ahmed | Pak | 678 | 43.71 | 715 v SL at Galle 2015 |
| ( – ) | C. Pujara | Ind | 678 | 46.84 | 851 v SA at Durban 2013 | |
| 20 | ( – ) | D. Chandimal | SL | 664 | 43.91 | 690 v NZ at Dunedin 2015 |
Bowlers (top 20)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Points | Avge | HS Rating |
| 1 | ( – ) | R. Ashwin | Ind | 876! | 25.11 | 876 v WI at Antigua 2016 |
| 2 | ( – ) | James Anderson | Eng | 875 | 28.23 | 884 v SL at Durham 2016 |
| 3 | ( – ) | Stuart Broad | Eng | 852 | 28.42 | 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016 |
| 4 | ( – ) | Dale Steyn | SA | 841 | 22.53 | 909 v WI at Centurion 2014 |
| 5 | ( – ) | Yasir Shah | Pak | 832* | 25.79 | 878 v Eng at Lord’s 2016 |
| 6 | ( – ) | Ravindra Jadeja | Ind | 781* | 23.76 | 789 v SA at Delhi 2015 |
| 7 | (+1) | Josh Hazlewood | Aus | 763* | 25.12 | 792 v WI at Hobart 2015 |
| 8 | (-1) | Trent Boult | NZ | 762 | 28.87 | 825 v Eng at Lord’s 2015 |
| 9 | (+4) | Rangana Herath | SL | 749 | 29.64 | 851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014 |
| 10 | (-1) | Morne Morkel | SA | 724 | 29.33 | 776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011 |
| 11 | (-1) | Vernon Philander | SA | 717 | 22.08 | 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013 |
| 12 | (-1) | Tim Southee | NZ | 707 | 31.92 | 799 v WI at Jamaica 2014 |
| 13 | (+4) | Neil Wagner | NZ | 692*! | 30.52 | 692 v Zim at Bulawayo 2016 |
| 14 | (-2) | Nathan Lyon | Aus | 688 | 32.65 | 696 v NZ at Wellington 2016 |
| 15 | (-1) | Mitchell Starc | Aus | 676* | 30.08 | 692 v NZ at Adelaide 2015 |
| 16 | (-1) | Peter Siddle | Aus | 615 | 29.88 | 816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013 |
| 17 | (-1) | Shakib Al Hasan | Ban | 614 | 33.29 | 700 v Zim at Khulna 2014 |
| 18 | ( – ) | D. Prasad | SL | 595* | 35.97 | 632 v WI at Colombo (PSS) 2015 |
| 19 | ( – ) | James Pattinson | Aus | 585* | 26.15 | 591 v NZ at Christchurch 2016 |
| 20 | ( – ) | Ishant Sharma | Ind | 572 | 37.06 | 671 v WI at Dominica 2011 |
