1. Home
  2. ICC Test Rankings: Steve Smith closes in on top-ranked Virat Kohli

ICC Test Rankings: Steve Smith closes in on top-ranked Virat Kohli

Agencies
August 19, 2019

Aug 19: Australian batsman Steve Smith has moved up to the second spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Player Rankings for Test batsmen after scoring a valiant knock of 92 during the first innings of the drawn second Ashes Test against England at the Lords' Cricket Ground.

The blistering knock saw Smith gain one spot and close in on top-ranked Indian skipper Virat Kohli in the updated rankings.

The Australia batsman has overtaken New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and is now only nine points behind Kohli (922 points), but the India captain will get a chance to consolidate his position in the upcoming two-match Test series in the West Indies starting Thursday.

Williamson is now standing at the third spot with 887 points, followed by India's Cheteshwar Pujara who continued to stand at the fourth place with 881 points. Henry Nicholls of New Zealand rounds off the top five.

Meanwhile, Marnus Labuschagne--who batted in the second innings as Smith withdrew following mild concussion--has also moved up 16 places to 82nd position after scoring a determined 59 that helped Australia draw the second Test and retain a 1-0 lead in the five-match series that kicked off the ICC World Test Championship.

Travis Head, who advanced two places to 18th after an unbeaten 42 in the second innings, is another Australia batsman to move up the rankings while Pat Cummins has gained one place to reach fifth position in the all-rounders’ list.

For England, player of the match Ben Stokes has moved up six places to 26th after scores of 13 and 115 not out at Lord’s while wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow (up seven places to 30th), left-handed opener Rory Burns (up 17 places to 64th) and all-rounder Chris Woakes (up two places to 68th) have also moved up the rankings for batsmen.

In the ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Stuart Broad and Woakes have both gained two places to occupy the 14th and 27th places, respectively, with four and three wickets in the match.

Left-arm spinner Jack Leach’s four wickets have lifted him from 48th to 40th position while Jofra Archer has entered the rankings in 83rd place after finishing with five wickets in his debut Test.

Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne’s player of the match effort of 39 and 122 in the opening Test match against New Zealand at Galle has not only helped his team take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series with a six-wicket win but has also helped the opener move up four places to 8th position.

Former captain Angelo Mathews (up three places to 14th) and wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella (up five places to 33rd) have also moved up in the batting rankings while spinner Akila Dananjaya (up nine places to 36th) has made major gains among bowlers.

For New Zealand, left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel has advanced 14 slots to take 61st position after finishing with six wickets in Galle, including a five-wicket haul in the first innings.

Meanwhile, India could lose their top position in the ICC Test Team Rankings as even a 1-0 loss to the West Indies in their upcoming seires will see them slip to 108 points. That margin will be enough for the West Indies to overtake Pakistan to seventh position at 88 points.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 15,2020

New Delhi, May 15: Former England skipper David Gower feels Sourav Ganguly has the right "political skills" to lead the ICC one day and he has already displayed that as BCCI president, which is a "far tougher job".

The elegant left-hander is very impressed with Ganguly's leadership abilities and believes that he has what it takes to head the global body in the future.

"One thing I have learnt over the years is that if you are going to run BCCI, you need to be many, many things. Having a reputation like he (Ganguly) has is a very good start, but you need to be a very deft politician.

"You need to have control of a million different things," Gower said ahead of "Q20", a unique chat show for the fans presented by 'GloFans'.

Gower reckons being president of the BCCI is the toughest job imaginable in world cricket.

"And of course, you need to be responsible for a game that is followed by, I mean, should we say a billion people here in India," he said.

"We all know about the immense following for cricket in India. So it is indeed a wonderful thing to behold. Sourav has the toughest task imaginable in charge of BCCI, but so far I would say the signs are very good.

"He has listened, given his own opinion and has pulled strings gently," he said.

Political skills are a must in administration and that's where Gower finds his fellow left-hander ticking all the boxes.

"He is a very, very good man and has those political skills. He has the right attitude and can keep things together and will do good job. And if you do a good job as BCCI chief in the future, who knows?

"But I would actually say the more important job, to be honest, is running BCCI. Being head of ICC is an honour, there is a lot that can be done by ICC, but actually look at the rankings, look at where the power is heading up. BCCI is definitely the bigger job," he said.

On the cricketing front, Gower believes World Test Championship has given the format much-needed context.

"The idea of this World Test Championship has come about for one very simple reason that people are worried about the survival of Tests. Back in the seventies, eighties, I don't think we needed context to be fair.

"Test cricket was very much more obviously the most important format and if there was anything to be judged by, it was the performances in Test matches both as an individual and as a team.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 1,2020

Colombo, Aug 1: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has expressed his interest in playing the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), scheduled to start from August 28.

Pathan is among 70 foreign players to have shown interest in playing the LPL, ESPNcricinfo reported.

It is believed that Pathan has taken permission from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take part in the competition. 

BCCI doesn't allow active players to participate in other T20 leagues but Pathan announced his retirement in January this year.

Former swashbuckling all-rounder Yuvraj Singh also played in a foreign league last year. He played for Maratha Arabians in the T10 League in Abu Dhabi.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Pathan will now be put in a player draft unless one of the five franchises choose him to be a marquee player. The details of the draft, and the franchise owners, are yet to be finalised and announced. 

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is also waiting on some government clearances even as it decides on franchise owners. The five franchises will represent Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna.

On Monday, SLC Executive Committee granted approval for the tournament.

"The 23 match League will be played on the four international venues of R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Rangiri Dambulu International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium. Five teams named after the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna will participate in the League," SLC said in a statement on Monday.

Sri Lanka has controlled the spread of COVID-19 better than many other cricket-playing nations.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 26,2020

Mumbai, May 26: Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar said that if he was playing currently he and Virat Kohli would have been the best of friends off the field, but real enemies whenever they stepped on the field.

Akhtar also said that he would have liked to challenge Kohli to drive the ball.

"Virat Kohli and I would have been the best of friends as both of us are Punjabi, but on the field, we would have been the best of the enemies. I would have loved to get inside the head of Kohli. I would have told him that you cannot play a cut or pull shot against me," Akhtar told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I would have gone wide of the crease and bowled a ball that would go away from him, I would have forced him to drive the ball as it is his favourite shot. So I would keep forcing him to play the drive shot at my pace," he added.

Akhtar also said that he wishes that Kohli could have played against some of the top bowlers in the game.

The Rawalpindi Express said that Kohli would have enjoyed the challenge of facing bowlers like Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, and Waqar Younis.

"I would also keep talking to him, because if I get him to lose his focus then that would have been great. The great thing about Kohli is that he gets more focused when he is challenged. But I believe Virat Kohli would have still scored the same amount of runs if I was playing," Akhtar said.

"I really wish that he had played against Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shane Warne, and then Virat would have also enjoyed the challenge," he added.

Akhtar played 224 matches for Pakistan in international cricket and took 444 wickets across all formats.

Over the years, comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have been growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in second place in the Tests rankings.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.