England's James Anderson vaults to career-best No.1 Test ranking

Dubai, May 31। England’s James Anderson has topped the  ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers for the first time in his career after bowling his side to a nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second Test in Chester-le-Street on Monday.

Anderson took three for 36 and five for 58, and, in doing so, has leapfrogged team-mate Stuart Broad and India’s Ravichandran Ashwin into the coveted number-one position. He now leads Broad by 15 points and Ashwin by 13 points.

For his efforts that also fetched him the man of the match award, Anderson has earned 30 points. This means in the two Tests against Sri Lanka, the 33-year-old Lancastrian has collected 79 points and has gained four spots in the rankings.

Anderson is the fourth England bowler to top the bowlers’ table since Ian Botham first achieved this feat in 1980. Steve Harmison stormed up the charts in 2004, while Broad vaulted to the number-one position earlier this year following the Johannesburg Test against South Africa.

Broad, who took five wickets in the Test, has slipped behind Ashwin to third place after conceding three points.

Other bowlers to improve their rankings post the Chester-le-Street Test are Nuwan Pradeep (43rd, up by five places), Milinda Siriwardana (50th, up by 13 places) and Chris Woakes (73rd, up by 16 places).

In the batting table, England’s Moeen Ali has achieved a career-best ranking.

The left-handed batsman scored 155 not out, his career-best score in 25 Tests, which helped England to declare its first innings at 498 for nine. For this achievement, Ali has earned 82 points that has lifted him 12 places to a career-high 35th position in the  ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen.

Opener Alex Hales has also continued to head in the right direction. After scoring 83 and 11, the 27-year-old batsman has moved up nine places to 70th.  In the past two Tests, Hales has gained 47 places and looks strong to gain further spots as he is still in the qualification period. A batsman qualifies for a full rating after he has played 40 Test innings, while Hales has so far batted in only 11 Test innings.

Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal, who scored 126 in the second innings, has moved up one place to 19th, while Nick Compton is now in 67thspot after rising one place.

Alastair Cook, who became the first England batsman to complete 10,000 Test runs while scoring 47 not out in the second innings, has retained his 15th position.

Australia captain Steve Smith is the number-one ranked Test batsman, followed by Joe Root of England and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.

In the all-rounders’ list, Ali has gained one place and is now sixth, just one point behind team-mate Ben Stokes. Ashwin is the number-one ranked all-rounder.

The Test player rankings will now be updated after the Lord’s Test.

 ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 31 May, after Chester-le-Street Test)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Pts         Ave        HS Rating

   1         ( - )        Steve Smith         Aus        925        60.18    936 v Eng at Lord's 2015

   2         ( - )        Joe Root               Eng        878        54.46    917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   3         ( - )        Kane Williamson NZ         868        49.23    893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   4         ( - )        Hashim Amla      SA         860       51.45    907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   5         ( - )        Younus Khan       Pak        826        53.94    880 v SL at Lahore 2009

   6         ( - )        AB de Villiers     SA         818        50.46    935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

   7         ( - )        Adam Voges        Aus        811*!    95.50    811 v NZ at Christchurch 2016

   8         ( - )        David Warner      Aus        800        50.06    880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   9         ( - )        Angelo Mathews SL          784        49.25    877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014

  10        ( - )        Misbah-ul-Haq    Pak        764        48.89    842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Pts         Avge      HS Rating

   1         (+2)       James Anderson  Eng        884!      28.33    884 v SL at Durham 2016

   2         ( - )        R. Ashwin            Ind         871!      25.39    871 v SA at Delhi 2015

   3         (-2)        Stuart Broad        Eng        869        28.37    880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016

   4         ( - )        Yasir Shah           Pak        846*!    24.17    846 v Eng at Sharjah 2015

   5         ( - )        Dale Steyn           SA         841        22.53    909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   6         ( - )        Ravindra Jadeja   Ind         789*!    23.76    789 v SA at Delhi 2015

   7         ( - )        Trent Boult          NZ         757        29.14    825 v Eng at Lord's 2015

   8         ( - )        Josh Hazlewood  Aus        741*     25.77    792 v WI at Hobart 2015

   9         ( - )        Morne Morkel     SA         724        29.33    776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

  10        ( - )        Vernon Philander SA         717        22.08    912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

 (News Source: ICC)