Pakistan batsman Shan Masood’s impressive knock of 156 against England in Manchester has propelled him to the career-best 19th position in the latest ranking for Test batsmen released by International Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday, August 09.
For Pakistan, Masood is the second-highest ranked batsman in Test, only behind Babar Azam who has retained his sixth position.
Another player who made a giant stride in the ICC rankings is Chris Woakes. His remarkable performance with bat saw England flying past a stiff target in the fourth innings at Old Trafford.
The 31-years-old stitched a crucial 139-run partnership with Jos Buttler for the sixth wicket that drove the hosts to an improbable victory. He scored 19 in the first innings and 84 not out in the second.
Woakes has jumped to the seventh position in the ICC all-rounders rankings. Ben Stokes retains his place as the best all-rounder in the traditional form of the game, followed by Jason Holder at second and Ravindra Jadeja at the third position.
Buttler scored a gutsy 75 in the second innings as he climbed to 30th position in the batsman rankings while his compatriot Ollie Pope reached his career-best 36th position.
Meanwhile, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli and Marnus Labuschagne retain the top-three position in the respective order. Stokes, after a mediocre display with the willow in the first Test, slumped to the seventh position in the batsmen rankings.
On the bowling front, Pakistan’s wrist-spinner Yasir Shah moved up to 22nd position after picking eight wickets in the first match. Mohammad Abbas moved up to three places to enter the top-ten club.
For England, Stuart Board held his No. 3 position and narrowed down the gap with second-placed Neil Wagner to seven points. Broad is likely to overtake the Kiwi pacer at the end of the ongoing Pakistan-England series.
With 360 points, India leads the ICC World Test Championship points table. At the same time, England closed the gap with second-placed Australia to 30 points.
