Babar Azam slips to 6th place in ICC men’s Test ranking

Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam has moved down one place to the sixth spot following a significant change in the recent ICC Men’s Test Batters Rankings.

He previously occupied the fifth position with 862 rating points.

Former England Test skipper Joe Root lost the top spot following a poor outing at Lord’s during the second Ashes Test with scores of 10 and 18 against Australia.

Australia veteran Steve Smith, who hit his 32nd Test century at Lord’s, jumped four places to second. The former Australian captain had previously been listed as number six.

New Zealand veteran Kane Williamson moved up a spot to rule the rooster, only one rating point ahead of Smith. Williamson has not held the No. 1 spot since August 2021.

Before the eagerly anticipated third Ashes Test against England this week at Headingley, Marnus Labuschagne (third), Travis Head (fourth), and Usman Khawaja (seventh) are all within striking distance of the No. 1 spot on the Test batter rankings.

Just 17 rating points separate the top five batters on the most recent rankings list, so if players do well in Leeds, more changes may be in store.

Following their impressive performances at Lord’s, England’s Ben Duckett (up 24 ranks to 18th) and Ben Stokes (up nine spaces to 23rd) both made some progress on the most recent Test rankings for batsmen, while several quicks also did well on the new list for bowlers.

On the most recent Test rankings for bowlers, Australia’s captain Pat Cummins jumped two ranks to second overall, closing the gap on India’s Ravichandran Ashwin. Teammate Mitchell Starc also moved up two spaces to 14th.

Australia dominate Test batting rankings ahead of Ashes

A seasoned seamer, James Anderson, dropped from second to fourth, negating Cummins’ surge. Meanwhile, Josh Tongue, a rookie for England, climbed a massive 27 ranks to 59th following his outstanding performance in London.

In the list of Test all-rounders, Stokes (up one rank to fourth) and Root (up one slot to seventh) gained some ground, with India’s Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin keeping the top two spots.

The current ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier competition in Zimbabwe has already produced a number of highlights with both the bat and the ball, so there was some change in the most recent ODI rankings as well.

On the most recent list of ODI hitters, Ireland’s rising sensation Harry Tector moved up one position to tie for sixth place. Scott Edwards, the captain of the Netherlands, moves up five slots to tie for 35th, and Sri Lanka’s reliable Pathum Nissanka moves up eight spots to tie for 38th place.

Josh Hazlewood of Australia is still ranked first among ODI bowlers, followed by Maheesh Theekshana of Sri Lanka (up 21 spots to 32nd) and Chris Sole of Scotland (up 23 spots to 39th), both of whom improved after strong performances in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier.