Labuschagne surpasses Joe Root to grab top spot among batters in ICC Test rankings

• Marnus Labuschagne has surpassed England’s Joe Root to take the top spot.
• The batsman scored 204 and 104 not out in the first Test match against West Indies. 
• England’s centurions James Anderson and Ollie Robinson both improve after Test series win over Pakistan.

Charismatic After becoming just the eighth player to score a double-century and a century in the same Test, Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne has surpassed England’s Joe Root to take the top spot in the most recent ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings.

According to the ICC, Labuschagne, who was only two points behind Root before the two ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Tests that were completed over the past week, now has a significant lead over Root and has moved up to third place, behind Steve Smith and Babar Azam.

With scores of 204 and 104 not out in the first Test match against the West Indies in Perth, Labuschagne has 50 rating points and 42 rating points more than his countryman Smith. After Root passed Labuschagne with two consecutive centuries against New Zealand in mid-June, Labuschagne has reclaimed the top spot.

Labuschagne recorded the fifth occurrence of two Australians scoring double-centuries in the same Test, and Smith moved up two slots after helping the team win with unbeaten scores of 200 and 20. The 893 rating points earned by Smith are his highest total since January 2021.

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon has climbed one spot to take over the top spot among bowlers after taking eight wickets to help his team secure a 164-run victory and maintain their lead in the WTC points standings.

Kraigg Brathwaite, the captain of the West Indies, returned to the top 20 after scoring 64 and 110 in the Perth Test, and Kyle Mayers moved up to the 41st spot among bowlers.

Rankings for England’s batters and the seam bowling duo of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, who combined for five wickets in the match, are affected by their historic 74-run victory over Pakistan in the first Test at Rawalpindi.

The centurions Anderson (up two spots to third), Robinson (up 90 spots to 70th), Ben Duckett (re-entered at 127th), Zak Crawley (up two spots to 46th), Harry Brook (up 90 spots to 70th), Ollie Pope (up two rating points), and Ben Duckett have all improved in the weekly update.

Imam-ul-Haque and Abdullah Shafique, the two Pakistani openers who scored centuries in the first innings and contributed to a 225-run partnership, have climbed 12 and five spots, respectively, to achieve career-best rankings.

Shreyas Iyer of India has climbed seven spots to joint-twentieth in the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings after scoring 24 in the opening game of their current series against Bangladesh and 49 in the previous final game of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League series against New Zealand.

The rankings for ODI batters also saw advancements by Charith Asalanka of Sri Lanka (up three spots to 34th), KL Rahul of India (up four spots to 35th), and Najibullah Zadran of Afghanistan (up four spots to 41st).

— Other than the title, this article was generated automatically from a syndicated feed by the Prokerala team.