DUBAI,: A major shake-up witnessed in the latest ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings as England star Joe Root lost the top spot to New Zealand’s Kane Williamson while Australia batter Steve Smith has made rapid progress towards the top after the second Ashes Test at Lord’s.
Root, who could only manage scores 10 and 18, slipped to fifth position, allowing injured New Zealand veteran slid up one place to claim the top ranking just one rating point ahead of Smith.
This is the sixth stint at the top for Williamson, who first attained number one position in November 2015 and was last at the top in August 2021. Smith’s ‘Player of the Match’ effort of 110 and 34 has lifted him four places to second position with 882 rating points. He was last at the top in June 2021, when he had replaced Williamson for a couple of weeks before being overtaken again by the New Zealand batter.
Australia batters now occupy four of the top ten places on the Test batter rankings, with Marnus Labuschagne (third), Travis Head (fourth) and Usman Khawaja (seventh).
England batter Ben Duckett has shot up 24 places to reach the top 20 for the first time in his career after scores of 98 and 83 in the second Ashes Test while his captain Ben Stokes is up nine places to 23rd after a valiant 155 in the second innings. IANS
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