Cricket: Travis Head Leapfrogs Smith, Labuschagne To Achieve Career-High No. 2 Spot In ICC Test Rankings

ICC Men's Test Player Rankings: Australia batter Travis Head has overtaken team-mates Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne to grab a career-best second position in the ICC Men's Test Player Rankings released on Wednesday.

Head jumped two places and up to second behind New Zealand veteran Kane Williamson on the back of his tremendous Ashes series against England that has already netted him a total of 266 runs at an average of 44.33.

The 29-year-old's previous best ranking was third, attained after the ICC World Test Championship Final against India last month, in which he had scored a decisive 163 in the first innings.

Head's scores of 39 and 77 in the third Ashes Test against England at Headingly have taken him to within nine points of Williamson’s 883 rating points even as the batting rankings continue to be volatile at the top with five of the top seven featuring in the ongoing Ashes series.

There was plenty of good news for England following the narrow three-wicket triumph in Leeds, with young gun Harry Brook moving one place to a career-high rating and 12th place in the rankings after his superb half-century in the second innings and skipper Ben Stokes improved five spots to 18th.

In the bowling rankings, Stuart Broad and Mark Wood have made notable progress.

Broad has gained four places to reach sixth position after finishing with five wickets in the match while Wood is up nine places to 26th with a career-best 591 rating points with seven wickets, including a five-for in the second innings. Chris Woakes has re-entered the rankings in 36th position after taking three wickets each in both innings.

Australia quick Mitchell Starc claimed seven wickets in that Headingley Test and was duly rewarded with a three-spot jump on the bowler rankings to 11th overall.

In the ODI ranking chart, Afghanistan batter Ibrahim Zadran has gained 11 slots to reach 16th position after contributing 142 runs during a 2-1 series win over Bangladesh while Rahmanullah Gurbaz has galloped 37 places to 45th after topping the series aggregate with 173 runs.

For Bangladesh, Liton Das has moved up three places to 38th after aggregating 92 runs in the series while Shakib Al Hasan is back in the top 10 for bowlers.

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In the bowling list, Saurabh Netravalkar of the USA (up 13 places to 18th), Maheesh Theekshana of Sri Lanka (up 13 places to 19th) and the United Arab Emirates’ Aayan Afzal Khan (up three places to 46th) have made notable progress after the conclusion of ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament.