Pace dominates ICC Test rankings update

West Indies skipper Jason Holder and Australia’s Pat Cummins led a charge of the fast brigade in the ICC Test Player Rankings after their sides completed commanding victories over England and Sri Lanka, respectively.

Holder’s return of five wickets in the Second Test against England have lifted him four places to sixth position, his personal best. The Windies scored an impressive 10-wicket win over England to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

The latest ODI rankings update

The Windies skipper has been on a rankings tear, he became the first Windies player since ICC Cricket Hall of Famer Sir Gary Sobers to top the list of Test all-rounders last week, and has now added another milestone by reaching a Test bowler ranking tally of 778 rating points, the highest by any Windies bowler since the retirement of Courtney Walsh in 2001.

Kemar Roach would be man of the match in Antigua though after grabbing four wickets in each innings. He was also rewarded with a jump of eight slots to 12^th position, just one place behind his compatriot Shannon Gabriel, who advanced one rankings slot.

The presence of three Windies bowlers in the top 12 harks back to the dominance of their pace bowlers in yesteryear, and is their best effort since they had four in the top 12 in mid-1996 – Curtley Ambrose (first), Courtney Walsh (fifth), Ian Bishop (seventh) and Kenny Benjamin (12^th).

The Baggy Green pace brigade have also made a mark in the latest rankings update. Cummins reached a career-best second position after taking four wickets in the Canberra Test against Sri Lanka, while new-ball bowler Mitchell Starc’s Man of the Match haul of 10 wickets has lifted him a full 10 places to 15^th position after the 366-run victory.

Among the tweakwers to improve in the latest rankings update are Moeen Ali of England (up two places to 28^th) and Marnus Labuschagne of Australia the part-time spinner moved up 20 places to a career-best 54^th.

Australia stalwart Usman Khawaja gained three slots to reach 13^th position after his unbeaten 101 in the second innings while newly elected vice-captain Travis Head gained a massive 23 slots to reach a career-best 20^th position after scores of 161 and 59 not out.

The Windies batsmen to make progress were Kraigg Brathwaite (up one place to 33^rd), Shane Dowrich (up two places to 45^th), Shai Hope (up five places to 46^th) and Darren Bravo (up two places to 55^th) after his determined 50 grafted out over the course of 342 minutes.

For England the batsmen to advance their rankings cause were Jonny Bairstow, whose first-innings half-century helped him push up two places to 23^rd position, and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, who has gained eight places to reach 64^th in the list.

The Proteas Kagiso Rabada remains the number one ranked bowler in the world while veteran seamer Vernon Philander holds fourth spot on the same list.

Aiden Markram (7th) is the top ranked Proteas batsman followed by Hashim Amla (9th), Dean Elgar (10th) and Quinton de Kock (12th).

Meanwhile, there has been no change in the ICC Test Team Rankings, which are updated at the end of each series. Australia though have gained three points after winning the two Tests against Sri Lanka. They remain in fifth position with 104 points while Sri Lanka have lost two points but stay ahead of Pakistan with 89 points.

Sri Lanka, however, face the prospect of slipping behind Pakistan during an upcoming two-Test tour of South Africa should they suffer another series loss. On the other hand, second-placed South Africa risk losing their second position, depending on how results pan out in that series as well as the last match of the Windies-England series in St Lucia.

ICC Test Team Rankings (as of 5 February after the Australia-Sri Lanka series)

RANK	TEAM	POINTS
1.	India	116
2.	South Africa	110
3.	England	108
4.	New Zealand	107
5.	Australia	104 (+3)
6.	Sri Lanka	89 (-2)
7.	Pakistan	88
8.	West Indies	70
9.	Bangladesh	69
10.	Zimbabwe	13
11.	Afghanistan	0
12.	Ireland	0