Steve Smith Consolidates Top Spot In ICC Test Rankings

Australia stars Steve Smith and Pat Cummins have strengthened their position at the top of ICC Test Rankings for batsmen and bowlers respectively after starring in the fourth Ashes Test. Australia thrashed England by 185 runs in the fourth Test to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series. With the win, Australia also retained the Ashes.

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Smith, who returned to action after missing the third Test due to concussion, continued his red-hot show with the bat. The former Australia skipper scored 211 and 82 in the match to consolidate his spot at the top of the points table. Smith now has 937 rating points, only 10 less than his all-time best aggregate achieved in December 2017.

The right-hander is now 34 points ahead of India captain Virat Kohli who is at second spot. Smith is now all but confirmed of finishing the Ashes at the top of the rankings. Cheteshwar Pujara at fourth and Ajinkya Rahane at seventh are the other Indians in the top ten.

Jos Buttler (up four places to 37th) and Rory Burns (up six places to a career-best 61st) for England and captain Tim Paine (up six places to 60th) of Australia have also moved up the batting list in the latest rankings.

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The ranking also took into account the recently-concluded one-off Test between Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan’s scores of 92 and 50 have taken him from 110th to 63rd position while Rahmat Shah’s century in the first innings has helped him move from 93rd to 65th.

Here is the top ten Test batsmen in latest ICC Test Rankings:

In the bowlers’ ranking, Pat Cummins is at the top followed by Kagiso Rabada. Jasprit Bumrah at number three is the only Indian in the top ten.

Here is the top ten Test bowlers in latest ICC Test Rankings: