Williamson, Wagner hit lofty ICC rankings heights

Kane Williamson and Neil Wagner are the standouts in the latest update of the ICC Test player rankings, with the New Zealand pair moving into second place on the batting and bowling charts respectively.

Williamson, who hit a career-best 251 in last week's first Test against West Indies in Hamilton, earned a massive 74 points to leapfrog Australian number three Marnus Labuschagne and sit level with India maestro Virat Kohli in second place, behind another Australian, Steve Smith.

The Kiwis captain's 10-and-a-half-hour epic laid the foundation for an innings-and-134-run win in the series opener, and was the ninth highest Test score by a New Zealander.

Wagner meanwhile took six wickets against the West Indies to jump ahead of veteran England quick Stuart Broad in the bowling rankings, though the fiery left-armer is still some distance behind the top-ranked Pat Cummins.

Another New Zealand pair, opening batsman Tom Latham and paceman Tim Southee, have attained career-high ratings to both sit inside their respective top 10s.

The Kiwis host the Windies again in the second Test from Friday in Wellington, while the likes of Smith, Labuschagne and Cummins are all set to be in action for Australia from December 17 in the first Vodafone Test against India.

ICC Test rankings

Batting

1) Steve Smith (Aus) – 911 points

=2) Virat Kohli (Ind) – 886

=2) Kane Williamson (NZ) – 886

4) Marnus Labuschagne (Aus) – 812

5) Babar Azam (Pak) – 797

6) David Warner (Aus) – 793

7) Cheteshwar Pujara (Ind) – 766

8) Ben Stokes (Eng) – 760

9) Joe Root (Eng) – 738

10) Tom Latham (NZ) – 733

Bowling

1) Pat Cummins (Aus) – 904 points

2) Neil Wagner (NZ) – 849

3) Stuart Broad (Eng) – 845

4) Tim Southee (NZ) – 817

5) Kagiso Rabada (SA) – 802

6) Mitchell Starc (Aus) – 797

7) Jason Holder (WI) – 787

8) James Anderson (Eng) – 781

9) Jasprit Bumrah (Ind) – 779

10) Josh Hazlewood (Aus) – 769