Steve Smith surges up ICC rankings
Steve Smith has moved up the third on ICC Test batting rankings following his twin centuries in the opening Ashes Test.
Steve Smith has moved up the third on ICC Test batting rankings following his twin centuries in the opening Ashes Test at Edgbastion.
The former Australian captain jumped from 857 points to 903 overtaking India’s Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara (881). Smith sits behind Indian captain Virat Kohli (922) and New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson (913) in a rare occurrence of three batsman sitting above 900 points.
Smith was on top of the list at the time of his one-year ban for ball tampering in South Africa shortly after he achieved his highest rating of 947 after the Boxing Day Test in 2017. Only Don Bradman with 961 has had a higher rating.
The other member of Test cricket’s so-called Big Four, England captain Joe Root is in sixth place (741), moving up one spot at the expense of Australian opener David Warner.
Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins kept top spot on the bowling rankings after reaching the 100-wicket milestone in just 21 Tests. Cummins has achieved his highest rating of 898.
The only Australians to score higher in the past 50 years are Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
Nathan Lyon jumped six places to 13th after taking nine wickets including a matchwinning haul of 6-49 in the second innings. Australia’s other two bowlers in the top 20, Josh Hazlewood (15th) and Mitchell Starc (17th) did not play at Edgbaston.
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