Labuschagne and Watling move towards top 10

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Neil Wagner also shot up in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Rankings for bowlers after his match-winning five-wicket haul against England in the first Test in Tauranga.


• Kohli bridges gap with top-ranked Smith; Stokes, Wagner and Warner gain in latest Test rankings update

Marnus Labuschagne and Bradley-John Watling have achieved career-best positions in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings with epic knocks that also won them Player of the Match awards this week.

Labuschagne’s score of 185 that helped Australia to victory over Pakistan by an innings and five runs in Brisbane has taken him from 35th to 14th place, while Watling’s 205 in Tauranga not only helped New Zealand beat England by an innings and 65 runs but has also lifted him 12 places to 12th position.

Labuschagne occupied 95th position when summoned as a concussion substitute for Steve Smith in the Lord’s Ashes Test in August and has made rapid progress since then, while Watling too has much to celebrate, as he is now the top-ranked wicketkeeper-batsman, having overtaken South Africa’s Quinton de Kock.

Read : India crush Bangladesh in day-night Test to sweep series

Apart from Labuschagne, the other Australia batsmen to advance in the latest rankings update include opener David Warner (up six places to 17th), Joe Burns (up 11 places to 62nd) and Matthew Wade (up four places to 70th) while fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has moved from 13th to joint-ninth in the bowlers’ list.
Their opposition Pakistan did not have much to cheer about with Shan Masood (up seven places to 57th) among batsmen and Haris Sohail (up 12 places to 81st) among bowlers moving up in the latest update that also takes into account performances in the day-night Kolkata Test in which India defeated Bangladesh by an innings and 46 runs.

Watling is not the only one to gain big from his team as Neil Wagner’s eight-wicket match haul has catapulted him to a career-best third position with a tally of 816 rating points, the third best ever by a New Zealand bowler after Richard Hadlee (909 points) and Trent Boult (825).

England all-rounder Ben Stokes is in the top 10 for batsmen for the first time after scores of 91 and 28 helped him gain three slots, while Joe Denly and Rory Burns have also made notable progress.

Read Also : Azam century in vain as Australia win first Test

India captain Virat Kohli’s commanding century in Kolkata has helped him bridge the gap with top-ranked Steve Smith from 25 to three points while opener Mayank Agarwal has reached the top 10 for the first time.

India fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav are at career-high points tallies after victory over Bangladesh. Ishant has 716 points but is in 17th place, way behind his career-best seventh place achieved in July 2011.
Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim has gained four slots to reach 26th position after scoring a fighting 74 in the second innings of the Kolkata Test while Liton Das is up eight slots to 78th position.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 26 November 2019)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank  (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
1 ( – ) Steve Smith Aus 931 64.00 947 v SA at Durban 2018
2 ( – ) Virat Kohli India 928 54.97 937 v Eng at Southampton 2018
3 ( – ) K Williamson NZ 877 52.21 915 v Ban at Hamilton 2019
4 ( – ) C Pujara India 791 49.48 888 v SL at Nagpur 2017
5 ( – ) A Rahane India 759 43.74 825 v NZ at Indore 2016
6 ( – ) Henry Nicholls NZ 744 44.16 778 v Ban at Wellington 2019
7 (+2) D Karunaratne SL 723 36.93 754 v SA at Colombo (SSC) 2018
8 ( – ) Tom Latham NZ 707 43.57 724 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2019
9 (+3) Ben Stokes Eng 704! 36.03 704 v NZ at Mount Maunganui 2019
10 (+1) M Agarwal India 700*! 67.07 700 v Ban at Kolkata 2019

Other selected rankings

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
12 (+12) BJ Watling NZ 693! 40.51 693 v Eng at Mount Maunganui 2019
14 (+21) M Labuschagne Aus 684*! 46.75 684 v Pak at Brisbane 2019
17 (+6) David Warner Aus 666 46.23 880 v NZ at Perth 2015
26 (+4) M Rahim Ban 614 35.08 658 v Aus at Chittagong 2017
36 (+1) Jonny Bairstow Eng 564 35.26 772 v SA at Old Trafford 2017
38 (+17) Joe Denly Eng 557*! 31.44 557 v NZ at Mount Maunganui 2019
46= (+8) Rory Burns Eng 532*! 30.19 532 v NZ at Mount Maunganui 2019
57 (+7) Shan Masood Pak 494*! 26.93 494 v Aus at Brisbane 2019
62 (+11) Joe Burns Aus 473* 42.06 575 v NZ at Christchurch 2016
70 (+4) Matthew Wade Aus 445* 30.54 465 v SL at Sydney 2013
72 (+26) M Santner NZ 432*! 28.58 432 v Eng at Mount Maunganui 2019
78 (+8) Liton Das Ban 417*! 24.80 417 v India at Kolkata 2019

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
1 ( – ) Pat Cummins Aus 907 21.62 914 v Eng at Old Trafford 2019
2 ( – ) Kagiso Rabada SA 839 22.50 902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018
3 (+5) Neil Wagner NZ 816! 27.04 816 v Eng at Mount Maunganui 2019
4 (-1) Jason Holder WI 814! 27.26 814 v India at Jamaica 2019
5 (-1) J Bumrah India 794* 19.24 835 v WI at Jamaica 2019
6 (-1) J Anderson Eng 790 26.94 903 v India at Lord’s 2018
7 (+2) V Philander SA 783 22.16 912 v India at Johannesburg 2013
8 (+2) Kemar Roach WI 780! 26.94 780 v India at Jamaica 2019
9= (+1) R Ashwin India 772 25.36 904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016
(+4) J Hazlewood Aus 772 26.30 863 v India at Bengaluru 2017

Other selected rankings

Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
15 (+1) R Jadeja India 725 24.64 899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017
17 (+3) I Sharma India 716! 32.68 716 v Ban at Kolkata 2019 
21 (+1) U Yadav India 672! 30.26 672 v Ban at Kolkata 2019
29 (+1) Ben Stokes Eng 571 32.77 606 v WI at St Lucia 2019
35 (+7) C de Grandhomme NZ 445*! 29.63 445 v Eng at Mount Maunganui 2019
36 (+1) Peter Siddle Aus 443 30.66 816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013
52 (+6) M Santner NZ 316* 38.00 344 v WI at Hamilton 2017
54 (+6) Sam Curran Eng 307* 30.33 342 v India at The Oval 2018
81 (+12) Haris Sohail Pak 181*! 25.66 81 v Aus at Brisbane 2019

All-rounders (top five)

Rank   (+/-) Player Team Pts Highest Rating
1 ( – ) Jason Holder WI 472! 472 v India at Jamaica 2019
2 ( – ) R Jadeja India 406 438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017
3 ( – ) Ben Stokes Eng 401 411 v Aus at Headingley 2019
4 (+1) V Philander SA 315 377 v SL at Galle 2018
5 (-1) R Ashwin India 308 492 v Eng at Mohali 2016

*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

For more information on player rankings, please click here.

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