- Labuschagne reaches the top spot for the first time and is the ninth Australian to cross 900 points with the bat
Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne is now the number one batter in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings, surpassing England’s Joe Root who had been on top since August this year. In the second Test held in Adelaide, Marnus scored his first Ashes century and went on to be adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’ for his knocks of 103 and 51 contributing towards Australia’s 275-run win over England. He is the ninth player from Australia to have crossed the 900-point mark with the bat, joining the elite league of gentlemen, Sir Don Bradman, Ricky Pointing, Mathew Hayden, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke etc.
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Within the bowlers, Mitchell Starc is back in the world’s top ten Test bowlers for the first time since this January. Whilst his compatriot Pat Cummins held onto the top spot despite missing the second Test. England’s Ollie Robinson is in the world’s top 25 bowlers for the first time at a career-best 597 points and Joe Root has made his first appearance in the world’s top 10 all-rounders after his 111th Test appearance.
In the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings there is a tie for top spot of batters between Pakistan’s Babar Azam and England’s Dawid Malan. Mohammad Rizwan is now at a career-best 798 points and is the second Pakistani in the top three batter’s category.
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Nicholas Pooran was the bright spot for the West Indies in their 3-0 T20I series defeat against Pakistan. His 108 runs at a strike rate of 147.94 took him up to 27th place, up from his previous career best of 30th.
