Smith scales new rankings high

Australia captain Steven Smith has led the charge in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen following the conclusion of Boxing Day Tests.

Smith, who scored a Test best 192 in the first innings of the drawn third Commonwealth Bank Test against India, has gained two places to claim fifth spot for the first time in his career.

He now trails number-one ranked AB de Villiers, who has regained the top spot from Kumar Sangakkara, by 40 ratings points.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and Virat Kohli are the other batsmen inside the top 20 to make upward movements.

McCullum, who scored 195 in New Zealand’s win over Sri Lanka, has achieved a career-best 12th position by climbing two places.

Kohli’s contributions of 169 and 54 have earned him four places and has put him in 15th place.

Also moving in the right direction are Chris Rogers of Australia (24th, up by four places), Ajinkya Rahane (26th, up by 15 places), West Indians Kraigg Brathwaite (37th, up by 11 places) and Marlon Samuels (37th, up by seven places) and South Africa’s Dean Elgar (50th, up by 13 places).

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, Ryan Harris has moved up two places to second following his six wickets at the MCG, while Trent Boult has achieved a best-ever ranking of seventh after rising two places after Boxing Day Test match figures of 7-125.

Image Id: ~/media/0675F66C30034712A2FB512AF5BE4D07

Bowlers outside the top 20 and moving in the right direction include young Aussie quick Josh Hazlewood (53rd, up by 16 places), New Zealander Neil Wagner (22nd, up by two places), India’s Umesh Yadav (36th, up by eight places) and Mohammad Shami (38th, up by eight places) and Protea Imran Tahir (58th, up by six places).

Dale Steyn has retained his number-one ranking and is ahead of Harris by 54 ratings points.

Meanwhile, South Africa are just a draw away from retaining the Reliance ICC Test Championship mace and with it winning a cash award of US$500,000.

If South Africa draw the Cape Town Test and Australia wins in Sydney, then South Africa will finish on 122 ratings points, compared to Australia’s 119 ratings points.

However, if the West Indies win in Cape Town Test and Australia wins in Sydney, Australia will finish ahead of South Africa by a fraction of a point (0.2).

The side that will finishes second will pocket US$390,000, while England and Pakistan have been guaranteed US$280,000 and US$170,000 after sealing third and fourth positions, respectively, following the Christchurch Test result.

The annual cut-off for the Reliance ICC Test Championship is April 1, 2015, but with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be played from February 14 to March 29, the current Test series are the last for the season.

Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 31 December)

Batsmen
Image Id: ~/media/388CFDC5A0B24B4897580C462C74C3D0
Bowlers
Image Id: ~/media/3D4CE5B02455410A8767A1353BF29B76