Matt Henry has ended a 36-year drought for New Zealand by becoming the third from his country to become the top-ranked bowler in the ICC Test rankings, going level with Jasprit Bumrah on 870 rating points. If Henry was the standout star in New Zealand’s series-levelling 253-run win in the WTC Test at The Oval with 11 wickets, Joe Root, England‘s captain for the game, was his team’s best batter with scores of 46 and 77, which gave him back the No. 1 spot on the table for Test batters.
Henry, who returned 5 for 80 and 6 for 29 in New Zealand’s win, which pushed the series into the decider, starting at Trent Bridge on Thursday, joined Jack Cowie (1947) and Richard Hadlee (1984-1990) as New Zealand bowlers to hold the top spot in Test cricket. Henry rose a steep six spots on the table after his haul.
Root, meanwhile, rose two spots, past compatriot Harry Brook and Australia’s Travis Head, to get to the top, and has a five-point lead at the moment. This is the 12th time Root has been at the top of the Test batters’ table.
Some other New Zealand batters also made significant gains after the second Test against England. Rachin Ravindra rose two places to tenth after scoring 33 and 76, Daryl Mitchell moved up five spots to 16th following scores of 44 and 68, Glenn Phillips, who scored 100 and 3, got to No. 31 after rising eight spots, and Henry Nicholls, after scoring 24 and 121, jumped 13 spots to 40th.
Shubman Gill moves to second on ODI batters’ table
Shubman Gill gained three places to move to second on the table for ODI batters, only behind Mitchell, after scoring 84 not out and 154 in his two innings in the series, which India won 3-0. He is currently on 791 points, with Mitchell 24 points away on 815.
Among India’s bowlers, Arshdeep Singh jumped 16 slots to 22nd after picking up five wickets in two bowling innings against Afghanistan.
For Australia, captain Mitchell Marsh rose four places to ninth among T20I batters, while Nathan Ellis jumped three spots to seventh among T20I bowlers. Marsh scored 93 runs in the series, including 60 in the last game, while Ellis picked up three wickets in three outings.
