Harry Brook surges to career-high Test rankings, challenges Joe Root for top spot

Dubai, Dec 4 (IANS) England’s Harry Brook’s brilliant 171 in the first innings of England’s eight-wicket victory over New Zealand at Christchurch has propelled him to second place on the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings for batters, closing the gap on teammate Joe Root.

Brook’s seventh Test century earned him a career-high rating of 854 and reduced the gap between him and Root to just 41 points. The former England captain endured a rare failure in the same match, registering his first Test duck in over two years.

The shake-up in the rankings also saw India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal drop to fourth, while England’s Ollie Pope (up eight places to 32nd) and captain Ben Stokes (up seven spots to 34th) climbed the ladder after contributing to the victory over the Black Caps.

The ICC rankings saw further movement after South Africa’s commanding 233-run win over Sri Lanka in Durban. Proteas captain Temba Bavuma’s scores of 70 and 113 earned him a jump of 14 places, putting him into the top 10 for the first time in his career. Kamindu Mendis of Sri Lanka also reached a career-high ranking, climbing two spots to seventh after his solid performance with the bat.

Other notable improvements included Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal (up two places to 17th) and Tristan Stubbs (up 29 places to 42nd), who impressed in the Durban Test.

The star of the Durban Test was undoubtedly South Africa’s Marco Jansen, whose devastating spell of 7/13 in the first innings led to a match haul of 11 wickets. Jansen’s all-round brilliance earned him career-best rankings in two categories.

He surged 19 spots to ninth on the bowler rankings and moved into second place among Test all-rounders, trailing only India’s Ravindra Jadeja. His Player-of-the-Match performance underscored his growing reputation as a match-winner.

Sri Lanka’s Vishwa Fernando also impressed, climbing four places to 29th on the bowling rankings. Meanwhile, England’s Brydon Carse (up 21 spots to 43rd) and Shoaib Bashir (up four places to 48th) gained ground following their efforts against New Zealand.

Pakistan’s Saim Ayub continued his rise, moving 12 places to 78th in ODI batting rankings and 39 spots to 119th in T20Is after some explosive performances in Zimbabwe.

Teammate Abbas Afridi climbed 20 places to 61st among T20I bowlers, while Zimbabwe’s veteran all-rounder Sikandar Raza rose six places to 40th in the ODI bowling rankings after a string of impressive displays.

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