Aussies dominate Test bowling rankings

Boom Australia pace duo Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood have achieved career-high Test bowling rankings following Australia’s first Test win over the West Indies.

Starc (6-76) and Hazlewood (5-50) combined for 11 wickets in Dominica and will head in to the second Test in Jamaica as the world’s 25th and 31^st-ranked Test bowlers respectively.

The planets continue to align for left-armer Starc after the 25-year-old was crowned the 2015 Cricket World Cup player of the tournament with 22 wickets before starring for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League last month. 

Aussies dominate in Dominica

Australia now boast eight bowlers in the Test cricket’s top 40 according to the official International Cricket Council Player Rankings.

Ryan Harris (3rd) and Mitchell Johnson (5th) still lead the Aussie charge with the red ball, followed by Peter Siddle (14th), Nathan Lyon (18th), Starc, James Pattinson (29th), Hazlewood and allrounder Shane Watson (38th).

Pakistan are well represented in the Test bowling rankings with six players, headed by off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, who was dropped for his country’s three-Test tour against Sri Lanka this month.

Rising powerhouse New Zealand contribute five to the top 40, as do India, while the West Indies have four players and England, South Africa and Sri Lanka all have three entrants, though the three Proteas take out positions one, eight and nine.

In the top 40 Test batsmen, Pakistan lead with seven players, and are followed by a three-way tie for second as England, New Zealand and the West Indies all have five entrants.

Australia and South Africa contribute four batsmen and two each in the top 10, while Kumar Sangakkara in first place and Angelo Mathews in fifth are the only two Sri Lankans in the top 40.

Extras

Adam Voges, off the back of his unbeaten 130, enters the rankings list at 65th, while fellow debutant Shane Dowrich comes in 10 spots back at 75th.

Despite only scoring 19, Shaun Marsh jumps two spots to 55th, and Marlon Samuels takes out 28th.

Leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo, with first-innings figures of 6-80, has climbed 10 places to 43rd.