Sports Bulletin Report
Dubai (UAE): New Zealand’s premier batter Kane Williamson has moved back towards the top spot in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings while Australia’s Josh Hazlewood is the new No. 1 ODI bowler with India’s Mohammad Siraj slipping to third.
Williamson, a formerly top-ranked batter, has moved up four slots to take second position in the list led by Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne after top scoring with 215 in an innings victory over Sri Lanka in Wellington that helped seal their two-match ICC World Test Championship series 2-0.
Henry Nicholls, who scored 200 not out and featured in a triple-century partnership with Williamson, has also made rapid progress, moving up 20 places to 27th position. Captain Tim Southee (up one place to 11th) and Matt Henry (up four places to 31st) are the Kiwi players to advance in the bowling rankings.
For Sri Lanka, captain Dimuth Karunaratne is in the top 10 with scores of 89 and 51 while Dinesh Chandimal has moved up one slot to 17th with scores of 37 and 62.
In the ODI rankings, which considers performances in two matches each of the India-Australia, Bangladesh-Ireland and South Africa-West Indies series, as well as the first match between Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, Siraj has slipped behind Hazlewood and New Zealand’s Trent Boult after India’s 10-wicket loss to Australia in Visakhapatnam.
Hazlewood, whose career best second position was attained for the first time in June 2017 and which he had kept since August 2022, is No. 1 in ODIs for the first time. Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc’s eight wickets in the two matches against India see him go to joint-third position with Siraj.
Other bowlers to move up the ODI rankings include West Indies’ Alzarri Joseph (up eight places to 11th), India’s Mohammad Shami (up five places to 28th) and Netherlands’ Fred Klaasen (up 22 places to 52nd).
In the batting rankings, Quinton de Kock, Shubman Gill and Steve Smith have made marginal progress within the top 10 while Shai Hope and Mushfiqur Rahim have advanced after smashing fine centuries this past week.
Hope’s 128 not out in East London has lifted him two places to 12th position while Mushfiqur has gained four slots to reach 18th position after smashing Bangladesh’s fastest ODI century, a 60-ball 100 not out in Sylhet.
The South African pair of Heinrich Klaasen (up 13 places to 30th) and Temba Bavuma (up 17 places to 33rd), Lokesh Rahul of India (up three places to 39th) and Australia’s Mitchell Marsh (up 24 places to 55th) have also moved up in the batting rankings.
