Former Australian skipper Steve Smith has been rewarded for his sensational return to Test cricket as he broke into the top-three in the ICC Test Player Rankings for batsmen after his heroics at Edgbaston in their Ashes 2019 opener against England.
Smith scored twin centuries and was awarded the Player of the Match award as Australia thrashed England by 251 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match Test series.
His knocks of 144 and 142 helped Australia breach England’s fortress and complete a sensational turnaround from Day 1, where they were reduced to 122 for eight. Courtesy of the knocks, Smith has once again crossed the 900-point mark. He now sits behind leader Virat Kohli (922) and Kane Williamson (913).
Smith was earlier placed in fourth place with 857 points to his name.
Leg-spinner Nathan Lyon also moved up in the rankings for bowlers.
Lyon took nine wickets in the first Test against England and that took him six places above to 13th while fast bowler Patt Cummins consolidated his top position with seven wickets in the game. He now has career-best 898 rating points – which is also the third-best for an Australian bowler in the past 50 years after Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.
For England, Stuart Broad gained two places to reach 16 after completing 100 Test wickets against Australia during the match while Chris Woakes climbed to 29 after picking up four wickets in the game. The all-rounder also went past Moeen Ali to reach ninth among all-rounders.
