Smith closes in on Bradman's feat in ICC Test rankings

Pujara grabs 3rd spot as Shakib leads all-rounder list

FE Team | Published: December 20, 2017 01:09:08

DUBAI, Dec 19 (Agencies): A day after guiding Australia to regain the Ashes urn, skipper Steve Smith consolidated his stay atop the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings as he inched closer to batting great Don Bradman's highest-ever rankings points.
Smith's match-winning 239 in the third Test against England at the WACA in Perth, helped his team reclaim the Ashes by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match rubber.
The 28-year-old's second Test double ton has taken his tally to 945 rating points, helping him share the second spot in the all-time list, along with England great Len Hutton.
Smith is now within 16 points of Bradman's tally of 961 points, and has had a minimum of 918 points over the past 12 months, which is 25 more than what second-placed Virat Kohli has as of now.
India's middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara improved a place to grab the third spot in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings here on Monday.
Pujara, who has scored 4,396 runs at an average of 52.96 in 54 Tests, currently has 873 points in the list of Test batsmen, headed by Australia captain Steve Smith, who continued to top the rankings for almost two years.
In the bowlers' list, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin continued to hold the third and fourth place, while England's new-ball bowler James Anderson and Australia pace bowler Josh Hazlewood gained one slot to move into the top five after finishing with eight wickets in the match.
Pat Cummins of Australia (up four places to a career-best 39th) and Craig Overton of England (up seven places to 89th) have also gained in the latest rankings.
Batsmen to reach career-best rankings after the Perth Test include Dawid Malan of England (up 47 places to a 52nd) after his innings of 140 and 54 in Perth and Mitchell Marsh of Australia (up 44 places to 65th) after his score of 181.
Jonny Bairstow (up one place to 15th) and Usman Khawaja (up two places to 19th) are the other batsmen to have moved up.
There were no changes in the Test all-rounder list with Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan leading the list.