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Smith jumps to fifth in ICC Test rankings, Kohli 15th

December 31, 2014 14:35 IST

Steven Smith of Australia hits out. Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Australia's new captain Steven Smith has led the charge in the latest ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen following the conclusion of Boxing Day Tests.

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New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets in Christchurch, while Australia and India Test in Melbourne and South Africa and West Indies Test in Port Elizabeth ended in draws.

Smith, who scored a Test best 192 in the first innings, has gained two places to claim fifth spot for the first time in his career. He now trails number-one ranked AB de Villiers, who has regained the top spot from Kumar Sangakkara, by 40 ratings points.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and Virat Kohli are the other batsmen inside the top 20 to make upward movements. McCullum, who scored 195, has achieved a career-best 12th position by climbing two places. Kohli’s contributions of 169 and 54 have earned him four places and has put him in 15th place.

Also moving in the right direction are Chris Rogers of Australia (24th, up by four places), Ajinkya Rahane (26th, up by 15 places), Kraigg Brathwaite (37th, up by 11 places), Marlon Samuels (37th, up by seven places) and Dean Elgar (50th, up by 13 places).
 
In the ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Australia’s Ryan Harris has moved up two places to second following his six wickets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), while Trent Boult has achieved a best-ever ranking of seventh after rising two places. Boult had figures of three for 25 and four for 100.

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The bowlers outside the top 20 and moving in the right direction include Neil Wagner (22nd, up by two places), Umesh Yadav (36th, up by eight places), Mohammad Shami (38th, up by eight places), Josh Hazlewood (53rd, up by 16 places) and Imran Tahir (58th, up by six places).

Dale Steyn has retained his number-one ranking and is ahead of Harris by 54 ratings points.

There is no change to the top five in the ICC Player Rankings for Test All-Rounders. Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh leads the field, followed by Vernon Philander of South Africa and India’s Ravichandran Ashwin.

Meanwhile, South Africa is just a draw away from retaining the ICC Test Championship mace and with it winning a cash award of US$ 500,000. If South Africa draws the Cape Town Test and Australia wins in Sydney, then South Africa will finish on 122 ratings points, compared to Australia’s 119 ratings points.

However, if the West Indies wins in Cape Town Test and Australia wins in Sydney, then Australia will finish ahead of South Africa by a fraction of a point (0.2).

The side that will finishes second will pocket $390,000, while England and Pakistan have been guaranteed $280,000 and $170,000 after sealing third and fourth positions, respectively, following the Christchurch Test result.

The annual cut-off for the ICC Test Championship is April 1, 2015. But with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be played from February 14 to March 29 next year, the current Test series are the last for the season.

Upcoming Test fixtures

Australia v India
January 6-10 -- 4th Test, Sydney

South Africa v West Indies
January 2-6 -- 3rd Test, Cape Town

New Zealand v Sri Lanka
January 3-7 -- 2nd Test, Wellington


ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 31 December, after Boxing Day Tests):

Batsmen

Rank      (+/-)        Player                  Team     Pts          Ave         HS Rating

   1           (+1)         AB de Villiers        SA           893         51.43     935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

   2           (-1)          K. Sangakkara     SL           891         58.22     938 v Eng at Kandy 2007

   3           ( - )          Hashim Amla       SA           887         52.40     907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   4           ( - )          Angelo Mathews  SL           877!       52.83     877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014

   5           (+2)         Steven Smith        Aus         853!       50.38     853 v Ind at Melbourne 2014

   6           (-1)          S.Chanderpaul     WI          848         52.53     901 v NZ at Napier 2008

   7           ( - )          Younus Khan       Pak         818         53.37     880 v SL at Lahore 2009

   8           (-2)          David Warner       Aus         815         48.06     880 v Ind at Adelaide 2014

   9           ( - )          Joe Root               Eng        789!       50.94     789 v Ind at The Oval 2014

  10         (+1)         Misbah-ul-Haq       Pak        777         49.15     842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014

  11         (-1)          Ross Taylor           NZ          772         45.96     871 v WI at Hamilton 2013

  12         (+2)         B. McCullum          NZ          760!       39.24     760 v SL at Christchurch 2014
 
  13         (-1)          Kane Williamson  NZ          753!       41.89     753 v SL at Christchurch 2014

  14         (-1)          Michael Clarke     Aus         740         50.79     900 v SL at Melbourne 2012

  15         (+4)         Virat Kohli            Ind         737         44.41     784 v NZ at Wellington 2014

  16         ( - )          Faf du Plessis      SA          710*!    52.50     710 v WI at Port Elizabeth 2014

  17         (-2)          M. Jayawardene  SL           695         49.84     883 v Ind at Ahmedabad 2009

  18         (-1)          Asad Shafiq         Pak         673         40.23     680 v SA at Cape Town 2013

  19         (-2)          C. Pujara            Ind          654         47.11     851 v SA at Durban 2013

  20         ( - )          Murali Vijay         Ind          653!       39.77     653 v Aus at Melbourne 2014

Selected Rankings

Rank      (+/-)       Player                   Team    Pts          Ave         HS Rating

  24         (+4)         Chris Rogers         Aus        643*      37.40     694 v Eng at Sydney 2014

  26         (+15)      Ajinkya Rahane      Ind        634*!    44.60     634 v Aus at Melbourne 2014

  36         (-1)          MS Dhoni              Ind         581         38.09     662 v SA at Kolkata 2010

  37         (+11)      K. Brathwaite        WI          579*!    39.85     579 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2014

  38         (+7)         Marlon Samuels   WI          573         35.21     672 v Zim at Bridgetown 2013

  45         ( - )          Shane Watson    Aus         534         35.49     729 v Eng at Perth 2010

  46         (-3)          Kaushal Silva       SL           528*      35.39     541 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014

  47         ( - )          Alviro Petersen    SA           515         35.36     655 v NZ at Cape Town 2013

  48         (-8)          Tom Latham        NZ          513*      42.86     569 v Pak at Dubai 2014

  49         ( - )          BJ Watling           NZ          512         34.75     574 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2014

  50         (+13)      Dean Elgar           SA           490*!    36.05     490 v WI at Port Elizabeth 2014

Bowlers

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Pts          Ave         HS Rating

   1           ( - )          Dale Steyn            SA           906         22.56     909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   2           (+2)         Ryan Harris          Aus         851         22.77     870 v SA at Cape Town 2014

   3           (-1)          Rangana Herath   SL           842         29.06     851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014

   4           (-1)          Vernon Philander SA           822         21.13     912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

   5           (-1)          Mitchell Johnson  Aus         812         27.84     849 v Pak at Dubai 2014

   6           ( - )          James Anderson  Eng         806         29.72     813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011

   7           (+2)         Trent Boult          NZ          805!       27.19     805 v SL at Christchurch 2014

   8           (-1)          Stuart Broad       Eng         774         29.90     783 v WI at Lord's 2012

   9           (+1)         Tim Southee       NZ          767         30.11     799 v WI at Kingston 2014

  10         (-3)          Kemar Roach       WI          766         25.98     774 v SA at Centurion 2014

  11         (+1)         Morne Morkel      SA           730         29.42     776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

  12         (-1)          Saeed Ajmal        Pak         725         28.10     855 v Zim at Harare 2013

  13         (+1)         Shakib Al Hasan  Ban         673         31.42     700 v Zim at Khulna 2014

  14         (-1)          Pragyan Ojha      Ind          670         30.26     773 v Eng at Kolkata 2012

  15         (-1)          R. Ashwin            Ind          668         29.85     808 v WI at Mumbai 2013

  16         ( - )          Peter Siddle         Aus         654         30.45     816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013

  17         ( - )          Junaid Khan         Pak         620*      28.83     652 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2014

  18         ( - )          Abdur Rehman    Pak         618*      29.39     739 v Eng at Dubai 2012

  19         ( - )          Nathan Lyon        Aus         588         34.96     648 v Eng at Melbourne 2013

  20         ( - )          Ishant Sharma     Ind          580         37.30     671 v WI at Dominica 2011

Selected Rankings

Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Pts          Ave         HS Rating

  21         ( - )          Sulieman Benn    WI          550*      37.35     574 v Ban at St Lucia 2014

  22         (+2)         Neil Wagner         NZ          542*      34.48     549 v WI at Bridgetown 2014

  26         (-1)          Dilruwan Perera   SL           506*      30.08     531 v Pak at Galle 2014

  28         (+1)         S. Eranga             SL           483*      34.86     541 v Eng at Headingley 2014

  36         (+8)         Umesh Yadav      Ind          412*!    33.47     412 v Aus at Melbourne 2014

  38         (+8)         M. Shami              Ind          398*      37.90     422 v NZ at Wellington 2014

  43         (-2)          Shane Watson     Aus         388*      33.36     633 v SA at Cape Town 2011

  50         (+1)         Suranga Lakmal   SL           346*!    47.95     346 v NZ at Christchurch 2014

  53         (+16)      Josh Hazlewood   Aus         324*!    28.55     324 v Ind at Melbourne 2014

  58         (+6)         Imran Tahir          SA           304*      46.39     312 v Pak at Dubai 2013

  60         ( - )          Jerome Taylor      WI          303*      35.45     717 v Eng at Kingston 2009


All-rounders

Rank      (+/-)       Player                   Team     Pts          HS Rating

   1           ( - )          Shakib Al Hasan    Ban        398        419 v Zim at Khulna 2014

   2           ( - )          Vernon Philander  SA          372*/    376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014

   3           ( - )          R. Ashwin              Ind         325*/    419 v WI at Mumbai 2013

   4           ( - )          Mitchell Johnson   Aus         297        384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009

   5           ( - )          Stuart Broad         Eng        296        382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012

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