Dubai: England star Ben Stokes has outdone West Indies captain Jason Holder to become the world’s top-ranked Test all-rounder while also attaining a career-best third position among batsmen in the ICC Test Player Rankings, following a match-winning performance at Old Trafford.
Stokes, who trailed Holder by 54 rating points going into the second Test in Manchester, enjoys a lead of 38 points after his memorable knocks of 176 and 78 not out and a match haul of three wickets helped England win by 113 runs and level the three-match series 1-1. Stokes ended Holder’s 18-month reign at the top, becoming the first from England at the summit since Andrew Flintoff in May 2006. His tally of 497 rating points is the highest by any Test all-rounder since Jacques Kallis aggregated 517 in April 2008. India’s Ravindra Jadeja remains in third spot with Australian Mitchell Starc and Ravichandran Ashwin rounding up the top-five.
Among batsmen, Stokes is joint-third with Marnus Labuschagne, only behind Steve Smith and India skipper Virat Kohli, with specialist batsmen like Kane Williamson and Babar Azam below him in the list. His captain Joe Root is ninth while opener Dom Sibley has advanced 29 places to a career-best 35th position after a sturdy first innings 120. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have a dropped a spot each to be eighth and 10th respectively, having not played since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stuart Broad, who was not picked for the opening Test, returned to the top 10 of the bowlers’ rankings after claiming three wickets in each innings. He is now England’s top-ranked bowler, one slot ahead of James Anderson, who dropped to 11th after being rested for the match.
Chris Woakes, who scalped five in the match to reach the 100-wicket mark, is in 21st position, his highest since late 2016. (PTI)
