Marnus Labuschagne’s reign as the No.1 ranked Test batter in the world is over with England’s Joe Root replacing the Australian in top spot on the latest ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings.
Labuschagne has held the premier position for just over six months, with the right-hander rising to the top in December last year on the back of a strong start to the Australian summer against the West Indies.
But a slow start to 2023 by his lofty standards, coupled with Root’s 30th Test century against Australia in the dramatic first Ashes Test at Edgbaston has seen a major shakeup at the top of the batter rankings.
Root managed scores of 118* and 46 in a losing cause during the first Ashes Test in Birmingham and those superb individual efforts saw the 32-year-old rise a massive five places and regain his place as the No.1 ranked Test batter in the world.
Labuschagne drops to third as a result of scores of 0 and 13 against England, with Kiwi veteran Kane Williamson jumping two places to second overall.
Fellow Australians Travis Head (down one place to fourth) and Steve Smith (drops four spots to sixth) also lose ground in the race to become the No.1 Test batter, with just 26 rating points now separating the top six players in what is one of the closest battles seen in recent times.
Australia opener Usman Khawaja was adjudged Player of the Match for his heroics against England and the 36-year-old rose to a new career-best rating and seventh place overall, while young gun Harry Brook also earnt the highest mark of his short Test career by jumping five places to 13th on the latest Test rankings.
There wasn’t nearly as much movement in the updated rankings for bowlers, with India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin maintaining his lead over England veteran James Anderson, South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada, and Australia captain Pat Cummins at the head of the list.
England duo Ollie Robinson and Stuart Broad both rise one place inside the top 10, while teammate Moeen Ali returns to the rankings in the 52nd spot after he answered an SOS from skipper Ben Stokes to play his first Test in almost two years against Australia.
The ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier saw some minor changes to the latest ODI rankings, with Oman captain Zeeshan Maqsood perhaps the biggest beneficiary as the 35-year-old improved two places to third overall on the updated list for all-rounders.
Maqsood contributed a valuable 59 and picked up a wicket as Oman upset Ireland in their opening match of the Qualifier, while the left-arm spinner also jumped five places to 40th on the list for ODI bowlers.
USA pacer Saurabh Netravalkar has four wickets from two matches at the Qualifier and the left-armer jumps five places to 18th overall and a career-high rating on the list for bowlers. He is the first USA player to reach the top 20 in either batting or bowling in the ODI rankings.
Ireland seamer Josh Little (up seven spots to equal 32nd) and UAE spinner Aayan Afzal Khan (up 10 places to 37th) also make ground.
Sri Lanka’s Kariyawasa Asalanka moves up three places to 40th on the latest ODI rankings for batters, while Oman right-hander Aqib Ilyas Sulehri (up four spots to 51st) and Zimbabwe veteran Sean Williams (up five places to equal 53rd) also make giant strides.
| Rankings | Player | Team | Rating |
| 1 | Joe Root | England | 887 |
| 2 | Kane Williamson | New Zealand | 883 |
| 3 | Marnus Labuschagne | Australia | 877 |
| 4 | Travis Head | Australia | 873 |
| 5 | Babar Azam | Pakistan | 862 |
| 6 | Steve Smith | Australia | 861 |
| 7 | Usman Khawaja | Australia | 836 |
| 8 | Daryl Mitchell | New Zealand | 792 |
| 9 | Dimuth Karunaratne | Sri Lanka | 780 |
| 10 | Rishabh Pant | India | 758 |
