Australia stars Travis Head, Josh Hazlewood gain big in latest ICC Test Rankings

Australia have benefitted from the latest ICC Test rankings with their batters and bowlers rising up the charts following their 10-wicket win in the first Test against West Indies in Adelaide.

Travis Head has moved up to the fifth position on the rankings from 12th while Usman Khawaja who won the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer Of The Year In 2023 is ranked ninth on the rankings.

Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Steve Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne are in the top five with Kohli ranked seventh and the only Indian batter in the top 10. Rohit Sharma is ranked 11th while Rishabh Pant who has been out of international cricket for more than a year now is ranked 13th on the rankings.

Head was Player of the Match during Australia’s victory over India in the World Test Championship final last year and also scored a century against the same opposition in the ICC World Cup 2023 final. Head was a part of the ICC Test and ODI teams for 2023.

Among the bowlers, Ravichandran Ashwin leads the rankings followed by Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, Josh Hazlewood, and Jasprit Bumrah. Hazlewood has moved three places to be ranked number four. Nathan Lyon, the veteran Aussie off spinner, has moved one place and inside the top 10.

England pacers Ollie Robinson and James Anderson are ranked seventh and eighth respectively while Ravindra Jadeja is fifth in the ICC Test rankings for bowlers. Mitchell Starc and Shaheen Afridi are ranked 11th and 12th respectively just outside the top 10.

Also Read: Usman Khawaja beats Ravichandran Ashwin to win ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year 2023

Australia Gain In Latest ICC Rankings

In the Men’s T20I rankings, India are the number-one ranked side with Suryakumar Yadav being the number-one ranked batter. He won the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer award for 2023. England, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Australia are ranked second third fourth, and fifth in the team rankings.

SKY is ranked one in the rankings followed by Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam from Pakistan. Yashasvi Jaiswal is ranked sixth while a splendid show from Rinku Singh against Afghanistan has taken him up to 31st in the rankings. Also,, Rohit Sharma jumped to 49th spot.

Adil Rashid leads the T20I bowlers rankings along with the Sri Lankan spin twins Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga placed third and fourth respectively. West Indies spinner Akeal Hoseinuis placed second. Indian spinners Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi are placed fifth and sixth respectively. Haris Rauf is the only Pakistan bowler in the top 20.

Speaking of Australia, they are currently playing the second Test against West Indies in Brisbane. They won the first Test in Adelaide by 10 wickets to consolidate their position at the top of the points table. The Windies scored 266/8 on the back of scores from Kavem Hodge (71) and Joshua Da Silva (79). Windies pacer Alzari Joseph scored 32 off 22 balls in a special cameo. He will have a bigger role to play with the ball later in the Test match.

“[Best moment] Probably the Edgbaston game. My first hundred in England and then to win that match like that was something special. Both as a team and individually too. [On improving his game against spin] I’ve had to work really hard. Perception becomes reality. Enough people tell you something, you start believing it. That innings I played in Dubai a few years ago was probably the catalyst. That was probably what gave me conditions going forward in subcontinent conditions” said Usman Khawaja after he won the ICC Men’s Cricketer Of The Year 2023.

Also Read: AUS vs WI scorecard, 2nd Test, Day 1 highlights: Joshua Da Silva, Kavem Hodge save West Indies as visitors end at 266/8