Fast bowlers Trent Boult and Morne Morkel have made significant gains in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings after their ‘player-of-the-match’ efforts in the Auckland and Cape Town Tests, respectively.
New Zealand’s new-ball bowler Boult has moved up five slots to seventh position after his match haul of nine for 99 helped defeat England by an innings and 49 runs to go 1-0 up in their two-match series.
The left-arm bowler took six wickets as England were dismissed for only 58 runs in the first innings in Auckland, their sixth-lowest total ever.
Morkel has similarly moved up five places to take sixth position, grabbing nine for 110 to help South Africa defeat Australia by 322 runs and take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series. Morkel has risen to 798 points, his best ever rating points tally with just one Test to go for retirement.
Morkel’s highest ever ranking position was third in November 2010.
There is no change among the top five bowlers but Australia pace bowler Pat Cummins is another one to move up, his seven wickets in Cape Town taking him to 18th position, the first time he has made it to the top 20.
Test bowlers, top 10:
1 Kagiso Rabada, SA
2 James Anderson, Eng
3 Ravindra Jadeja, Ind
4 R Ashwin, Ind
5 Josh Hazlewood, Aus
6 Morne Morkel, SA
7 Trent Boult, NZ
8 Neil Wagner, NZ
9 Rangana Herath, SL
10 Vernon Philander, SA
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