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Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne has overtaken England’s Joe Root to grab the top spot in the latest ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings after becoming just the eighth player to score a double-century and a century in the same Test.
Root obtained the top ranking during a golden run with the bat over the most recent English summer, but a mixed performance in the recent first Test in Pakistan and a strong showing from Labuschagne against the West Indies has seen a major shake-up at the head of proceedings.
Labuschagne, who was just two points behind Root before the two ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Tests completed over the past week, now enjoys a big lead at the top even as Root has slipped to fourth place — behind Steve Smith and Babar Azam, according to ICC.
Major change at the top as a new No.1 Test batter is crowned 💥
Details 👇https://t.co/4Og8ldWhbA
— ICC (@ICC) December 8, 2022
Labuschagne registered scores of 204 and 104* against the West Indies during the first Test in Perth and that helped the Australia No.3 batter to take the top spot and rise to a total of 935 rating points ahead of his team-mate Smith who is at 893 points. Labuschagne has regained the No. 1 position after Root overtook him in mid-June with successive centuries against New Zealand.
Smith himself has gained two slots after contributing to the win with unbeaten scores of 200 and 20, along with Labuschagne registering the fifth instance of two Australians scoring double-centuries in the same Test. Smith’s tally of 893 rating points is his highest since January 2021.
The right-hander will get the chance to move past the likes of West Indies great Sir Vivian Richards and former India captain Virat Kohli with a good performance in the second Test in Adelaide this week, while teammate Steve Smith will also be eying off more rating points after he also improved past Root and into second place on the latest rankings for Test batters.
Smith hit a double century of his own against the West Indies during the Australia’s first innings in Perth and that helped the veteran batter take second place on the rankings with a total of 893 rating points and just ahead of Pakistan captain Babar Azam (879) and Root (876).
Off-spinner Nathan Lyon has moved up one place to reach 15th spot among bowlers after an eight-wicket haul that helped Australia complete a 164-run victory and consolidate his team’s top position in the WTC points table.
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite is back in the top 20 after scores of 64 and 110 in the Perth Test while Kyle Mayers has progressed to 41st in the bowlers’ rankings.
England’s epic 74-run win in the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi reflects in the rankings for their batters as well as the seam bowling pair of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, who finished with five wickets each in the match and were duly rewarded with eye-catching moves inside the top 10 on the bowler charts.
Anderson improves two spots to third, while Robinson jumps to a career high rating of 754 points and rises seven spots in total to eighth overall.
Centurions Zak Crawley (up two places to 46th), Harry Brook (up 90 places to 70th), Ben Duckett (re-entered at 127th place) and Ollie Pope (up two rating points) have all gained in the weekly update.
Pakistan openers Abdullah Shafique (up five places to 15th) and Imam-ul-Haque (up 12 places to 38th) have attained career-best rankings after slamming centuries in the first innings and figuring in a 225-run stand.
In the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings, India’s Shreyas Iyer has moved up seven places to joint-20th after scores of 24 in the first match of their ongoing series against Bangladesh and 49 in the preceding final match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League series against New Zealand.
Charith Asalanka of Sri Lanka (up three places to 34th), KL Rahul of India (up four places to 35th) and Afghanistan’s Najibullah Zadran (up four places to 41st) are among the others to progress in the rankings for ODI batters.
Afghanistan ace Rashid Khan jumps four spots to sixth overall following his four wickets in the third and final match of the ODI series against Sri Lanka, while fellow tweaker Shakib Al Hasan improves seven spots to ninth on the back of his five-wicket haul against India in Mirpur.
Kiwi pacer Trent Boult holds on to his place as the No.1 ranked ODI bowler, with fellow New Zealand quick Matt Henry gaining one place to fourth following their recent series against India.
The only change on the latest rankings for ODI batters sees a pair of veteran batters swap places, with New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson rising two spots to eighth and Kohli dropping two places to 10th as a result.
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