Anderson now top ranked Test bowler
James Anderson has become the world's number one ranked Test bowler for the first time in his career after moving above England new-ball partner Stuart Broad in the latest International Cricket Council standings.
|||James Anderson has become the world's number one ranked Test bowler for the first time in his career after moving above England new-ball partner Stuart Broad in the latest International Cricket Council standings.
Anderson, England's all-time leading wicket-taker, broke through the 450 mark on his way to a man-of-the-match display in a nine-wicket victory at Chester-le-Street on Monday which sealed a 2-0 series win over Sri Lanka.
The 33-year-old has already taken 18 wickets in the first two Tests of this English season ahead of next week's Sri Lanka finale at Lord's.
Anderson's eight-wicket haul at Chester-le-Street, the headquarters of north-est county Durham, saw Anderson climb two places in the ICC rankings published on Tuesday, with former number one Broad now third behind India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
Anderson is the fourth England bowler to top the ICC's Test standings following Ian Botham (1980), Steve Harmison (2004) and Broad, who rose to the number one position following the Johannesburg Test against South Africa earlier this year.
Australia captain Steven Smith remains the number-one ranked Test batsman, followed by England's Joe Root and Kane Williamson of New Zealand.
Leading ICC Test rankings (as on May 31, after Chester-le-Street Test)
(rank, change in ranking, player, team, points average, highest rating)
Batsmen
1 (-) Steven Smith AUS 925 60.18 936 v ENG, Lord's 2015
2 (-) Joe Root ENG 878 54.46 917 v AUS, Trent Bridge 2015
3 (-) Kane Williamson NZL 868 49.23 893 v AUS, Perth 2015
4 (-) Hashim Amla RSA 860 51.45 907 v PAK, Abu Dhabi 2013
5 (-) Younus Khan PAK 826 53.94 880 v SRI, Lahore 2009
6 (-) AB de Villiers RSA 818 50.46 935 v Aus, Port Elizabeth 2014
7 (-) Adam Voges AUS 811 95.50 811 v NZL, Christchurch 2016
8 (-) David Warner AUS 800 50.06 880 v NZL, Perth 2015
9 (-) Angelo Mathews SRI 784 49.25 877 v NZL, Christchurch 2014
10 (-) Misbah-ul-Haq PAK 764 48.89 842 v NZL, Abu Dhabi 2014
Bowlers
1 (+2) James Anderson ENG 884 28.33 884 v SRI, Durham 2016
2 (-) R. Ashwin IND 871 25.39 871 v RSA, Delhi 2015
3 (-2) Stuart Broad ENG 869 28.37 880 v RSA, Johannesburg 2016
4 (-) Yasir Shah PAK 846 24.17 846 v ENG, Sharjah 2015
5 (-) Dale Steyn RSA 841 22.53 909 v WIS, Centurion 2014
6 (-) Ravindra Jadeja IND 789 23.76 789 v RSA, Delhi 2015
7 (-) Trent Boult NZL 757 29.14 825 v ENG, Lord's 2015
8 (-) Josh Hazlewood AUS 741 25.77 792 v WIS, Hobart 2015
9 (-) Morne Morkel RSA 724 29.33 776 v AUS, Cape Town 2011
10 (-) Vernon Philander RSA 717 22.08 912 v IND, Johannesburg 2013 – AFP