Jamieson’s big leap brings him closer to Ashwin in latest ICC Test bowling rankings

Dubai, Jan. 12 (IANS): Tall New Zealand pace bowler, Kyle Jamieson (825 points), has climbed eight places to a career-best third position in the latest ICC Test Bowling Rankings released on Wednesday and has drastically closed the gap on India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (861 points), who is second on the table. Australian pace bowler and Test skipper Pat Cummins continues to lead the charts with 895 points.

Jamieson’s quantum jump has come after a fine show in the two-match ICC World Test Championship series against Bangladesh that ended in a 1-1 draw.

The 27-year-old Jamieson, who finished with eight wickets including six in the second Test in Christchurch, is only the fifth bowler from New Zealand to touch the 825-rating point mark after Richard Hadlee (909 in November 1985), Neil Wagner (859 in December 2019), Tim Southee (839 in November 2021) and Trent Boult (825 in May 2015).

Left-arm seam bowler Boult too has advanced in the latest weekly update that includes the fourth Ashes Test and the second Test between India and South Africa, moving up three places to 12th with nine wickets in the series.

Among batters, India’s Rohit Sharma and Test skipper Virat Kohli continue to hold on to their fifth and ninth spots respectively, with New Zealand’s Tom Latham advancing two places to 11th after finishing with 267 runs in the series, while Devon Conway’s 244-run aggregate, which includes two centuries, has lifted him 18 places to 29th position after just five Tests.

New Zealand’s Ross Taylor has signed off from Test cricket in 28th place, having attained a career-best fourth position and 871 rating points in December 2013.

Bangladesh’s Litton Das is up 17 places to a career-best 15th position with 196 runs while Mominul Haque (up eight places to 37th) and Najmul Hossain (up 21 places to 87th) have also made notable progress among batters.

Bangladesh pace bowler Ebadot Hossain has progressed 17 places to 88th with nine wickets in the series, at the end of which New Zealand and Bangladesh were on sixth and seventh positions, respectively, in the WTC Points Table.

The drawn fourth Test between Australia and England in Sydney sees Usman Khawaja make a memorable return to the Australian team with a Player of the Match effort. The 35-year-old left-hander’s scores of 137 and 101 not out see him re-enter the rankings in 26th position in the list led by his compatriot Marnus Labuschagne.

Steve Smith has leapfrogged Kane Williamson to third among batters while Scott Boland has progressed 24 places to 49th among bowlers. Cameron Green, up 11 places to 89th among batters and 10 places to 75th among bowlers, is another Australia player gaining in the rankings.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes has moved up nine places to 18th among batters with scores of 66 and 60 while Jonny Bairstow’s knocks of 113 and 41 have lifted him 16 places to 55th. Stuart Broad is up two places to 14th and Mark Wood has gone from 41st to 38th.

South Africa captain Dean Elgar’s match-winning knock of 96 not out in Johannesburg has pushed him back into the top 10 for the first time since January 2019. His compatriot Temba Bavuma is up four places to 35th after his first innings half-century.