Steve Smith regains top spot in ICC Test rankings for batsmen; Kohli re-enters Top four

Ahead of the World Test Championship final in Southampton, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson has failed to retain the top spot in the ICC rankings for Test batsmen as the right-hander, following a horror series against England, has slipped to the second position. Williamson entered the New Zealand series as the number one ranked Test batter in the world, but scores of 1 and 13 have seen the 30-year-old lose over 20 rating points to slip to the second spot. Australia’s Steve Smith, who last played a Test in January, has soared back to the top as a result, and now has a five-point lead (891) over his Kiwi counterpart. 

Meanwhile, England skipper Joe Root’s failure to post a fifty against the Kiwis has also seen him slip out of the top four. Root entered the New Zealand series as the fourth-ranked batsman in the world, but an average of 24.25 has seen the right-hander slip to the fifth spot in the rankings. Virat Kohli, who will be playing the WTC final in two days’ time, has thereby displaced Root at #4, leading the England skipper by 17 points (814).

There are no other movements among batsmen, while in the bowlers, Stuart Broad has jumped to the sixth spot following an impressive showing at Edgbaston, where he picked up a four-wicket haul. Kagiso Rabada, who last week took his first five-wicket haul in three years, has moved to joint-seventh spot (alongside Anderson), while Jason Holder has slipped to ninth. The all-rounders’ rankings have remained unchanged.