ICC Test Rankings: De Kock moves into top ten, Rabada slips to third
The Proteas have a batsman in the top ten of the ICC Test rankings once again after Quinton de Kock moved up in the latest update.
De Kock scored 95 and 34 in the Proteas 107-run first Test victory over England to earn the Man of the Match award and move up eight places in the batting rankings. He is the only South African in the top ten.
Australia SA-born batsman Marnus Labuschagne has finished the year at a career-best fourth position while the batting list continues to be led by India captain Virat Kohli, who was at the top of the ICC Test Rankings for 274 days in 2019. Australia’s Steve Smith finished in second place after having occupied the top position for 91 days during the year.
Labuschagne was ranked 110th at the start of the year, but his scores of 63 and 19 in the Melbourne Test against New Zealand, which Australia won by 247 runs to go 2-0 up in the three-match series, see him move up to fourth in the final update of the ICC Test Rankings for 2019.
Other batsmen to move up the rankings include New Zealand opener Tom Latham (up two places to 14th), Australia middle-order batsman Travis Head (up 15 places to a career-best 19th), England opener Rory Burns (up five places to a career-best 31st) and middle-order batsman Joe Denly (up 10 places to a career-best 36th).
South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada started the year in top spot which he held for 44 days but a lack of Test cricket in mid-year has seen him lose ground on Pat Cummins. Cummins has been number one 321 days in 2019.
Affies Old Boy Neil Wagner shifted Rabada from second spot this week, moving up despite New Zealand’s defeat to Australia in Melbourne and bumping the Proteas quick into third.
Retiring Proteas seamer Vernon Philander moved up three places to fifth position while the England trio of Stuart Broad (up two places to 14th), Jofra Archer (up three places to 40th) and Sam Curran (up five places to 45th) also made notable progress through their displays at Supersport Park. Aussie quick James Pattinson has moved up 46 places to 54th position after taking three wickets in each innings in Melbourne.
The West Indies’ Jason Holder finished as the top all-rounder, occupying number one position for 342 days. Suspended Bangladesh star Shakib Al Hasan was at the top for 23 days.
World Test Championship
In the ICC World Test Championship, Australia have strengthened their position in second place in the points table after gaining 40 points for the Test win. They are on 256 points and could go up to 296 by the end of the series. South Africa have 30 points after their first win in the WTC while New Zealand and England remain on 60 and 56 points, respectively.
Each series of the WTC is worth 120 points, distributed evenly over the number of matches in a series. The points range from 60 points for each match of a two-Test series to 24 for each match of a five-Test series. The top two teams at the end of the league will play the final at Lord’s in June 2021 with the winners crowned the World Test Champions.
ICC Test Rankings
Batsmen (top 10)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( – ) | Virat Kohli | India | 928 | 54.97 | 937 v Eng at Southampton 2018 |
| 2 | ( – ) | Steve Smith | Aus | 911 | 62.84 | 947 v SA at Durban 2018 |
| 3 | ( – ) | K Williamson | NZ | 822 | 51.44 | 915 v Ban at Hamilton 2019 |
| 4 | (+1) | M Labuschagne | Aus | 805*! | 56.42 | 805 v NZ at Melbourne 2019 |
| 5 | (-1) | C Pujara | India | 791 | 49.48 | 888 v SL at Nagpur 2017 |
| 6 | ( – ) | Babar Azam | Pak | 767! | 42.67 | 767 v SL at Karachi 2019 |
| 7= | (+1) | David Warner | Aus | 759 | 48.21 | 880 v NZ at Perth 2015 |
| ( – ) | Ajinkya Rahane | India | 759 | 43.74 | 825 v NZ at Indore 2016 | |
| 9 | ( – ) | Joe Root | Eng | 754 | 48.41 | 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015 |
| 10 | (+8) | Q de Kock | SA | 712 | 38.88 | 802 v NZ at Hamilton 2017 |
Other selected ICC Test rankings
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 14 | (+2) | Tom Latham | NZ | 685 | 42.81 | 724 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2019 |
| 19 | (+15) | Travis Head | Aus | 661*! | 43.24 | 661 v NZ at Melbourne 2019 |
| 31 | (+5) | Rory Burns | Eng | 597*! | 33.75 | 597 v SA at Centurion 2019 |
| 36= | (+10) | Joe Denly | Eng | 570*! | 31.00 | 570 v SA at Centurion 2019 |
| 50 | (+17) | Tim Paine | Aus | 515 | 31.58 | 528 v India at Melbourne 2018 |
| 57 | (+12) | Matthew Wade | Aus | 492*! | 31.51 | 492 v NZ at Melbourne 2019 |
| 60 | (RE) | Tom Blundell | NZ | 487*! | 68.00 | 487 v Aus at Melbourne 2019 |
| 72 | (+7) | V Philander | SA | 435 | 24.63 | 457 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2017 |
Bowlers (top 10)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( – ) | Pat Cummins | Aus | 902 | 21.92 | 914 v Eng at Old Trafford 2019 |
| 2 | (+1) | Neil Wagner | NZ | 859! | 26.51 | 859 v Aus at Melbourne 2019 |
| 3 | (-1) | Kagiso Rabada | SA | 832 | 22.57 | 902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018 |
| 4 | ( – ) | Jason Holder | WI | 830! | 26.37 | 830 v Afg at Lucknow 2019 |
| 5 | (+3) | V Philander | SA | 800 | 21.99 | 912 v India at Johannesburg 2013 |
| 6 | ( – ) | Jasprit Bumrah | India | 794* | 19.24 | 835 v WI at Jamaica 2019 |
| 7 | (-2) | Mitchell Starc | Aus | 790 | 27.08 | 806 v NZ at Perth 2019 |
| 8 | (-1) | J Hazlewood | Aus | 777 | 26.20 | 863 v India at Bengaluru 2017 |
| 9 | (+2) | R Ashwin | India | 772 | 25.36 | 904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016 |
| 10 | (+2) | M Shami | India | 771 | 27.09 | 790 v Ban at Indore 2019 |
Other selected ICC Test rankings
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Highest Rating |
| 14= | (+2) | Stuart Broad | Eng | 741 | 28.68 | 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016 |
| 36 | (+1) | C de Grandhomme NZ | 452*! | 30.76 | 452 v Aus at Melbourne 2019 | |
| 40 | (+3) | Jofra Archer | Eng | 423* | 27.40 | 465 v Aus at The Oval 2019 |
| 45 | (+5) | Sam Curran | Eng | 379*! | 29.87 | 379 v SA at Centurion 2019 |
| 46 | (+54) | J Pattinson | Aus | 376* | 25.51 | 591 v NZ at Christchurch 2016 |
| 84= | (+2) | M Labuschagne | Aus | 182* | 36.33 | 285 v SL at Canberra 2019 |
| 96 | (+36) | Anrich Nortje | SA | 125*! | 47.00 | 125 v Eng at Centurion 2019 |
All-rounders (top five)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( – ) | Jason Holder | WI | 473! | 473 v Afg at Lucknow 2019 |
| 2 | ( – ) | R Jadeja | India | 406 | 438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017 |
| 3 | ( – ) | Ben Stokes | Eng | 377 | 411 v Aus at Headingley 2019 |
| 4 | ( – ) | V Philander | SA | 348 | 377 v SL at Galle 2018 |
| 5 | (+1) | R Ashwin | India | 308 | 492 v Eng at Mohali 2016 |
*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.
!indicates career-highest rating
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