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).

ICC Test Rankings: Kagiso Rabada of South Africa celebrates after getting the wicket of Jonny Bairstow of England during day 4 of the first International Test Series 2019/20 game between South Africa and England at Supersport Park, Centurion on 29 December 2019 © Catherine Kotze/BackpagePix

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