After the completion of the first Test match held between England and West Indies post coronavirus outbreak, the players’ rankings of International Cricket Council (ICC) has been updated. In the latest rankings, West Indies’ skipper Jason Holder and England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes, who was also the stand-in captain in the first Test, have achieved their career-best ratings.
Holder has jumped up to the second spot among bowlers, courtesy of his inspirational seven wickets performance in the Southampton Test. In fact, his rating points of 862 are the highest for any West Indian bowler for 20 years now. Before, Holder the highest rating points by a bowler for West Indies was accomplished by legendary Courtney Walsh (866) in August 2000.
Ben Stokes, on the other hand, has equalled his career-high ninth position among batsmen, after knocks of 43 and 46 at the Ageas Bowl. He is now only one place behind England Test skipper Joe Root. The southpaw has also jumped three spots in the bowlers’ list to 23rd position, thanks to his six wickets performance in the three-match series opener.
Speaking about some other players who were involved in the first match post-COVID-19 pandemic, then English opening batsman Rory Burns has reached in the top-30 for the first time after scores of 30 and 42. Whereas, middle-order batsman Zak Crawley is in the top 100 after a fantastic 86-run knock in the second innings.
For the touring side, pacer Shannon Gabriel has reached to 18th place after a match-winning performance (9 wickets) in the game. Apart from Gabriel, middle-order batsman Jermaine Blackwood, who played a superb knock of 95 in the second innings, has jumped 14 slots to reach 58th position among batsmen. At the same time, wicket-keeper batter Shane Dowrich was at his career-best 37th position after registering scores of 61 and 20, respectively.
Meanwhile, Indian cricketers, who have not taken the field since March, have retained their positions in the top-10 of batsmen and bowlers rankings. Indian captain Virat Kohli remains at the second spot in the batsmen standings, while Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were at seventh and ninth place respectively. Frontline bowler Jasprit Bumrah was the only Indian bowler in the top-10 list. He was placed at the seventh spot.
