Anderson tops Test rankings

England pacer’s four-for against Pakistan elevates him to top again

DUBAI: James Anderson has reclaimed the number one ranking from India’s Ravichandran Ashwin in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, which were released yesterday following the conclusion of the Edgbaston Test which England won by 141 runs to take a 2-1 lead over Pakistan.

Anderson had entered the Edgbaston Test trailing Ashwin by one point, but he has now opened up a 12-point gap over the India spinner.



This is following Anderson’s four wickets against third-ranked Pakistan, which has earned him six points, as compared to Ashwin who has dropped six points despite taking six wickets against eighth-ranked West Indies in the Jamaica Test.

This is the second time in less than six weeks that Anderson has topped the bowling table. He had surged to the top of the chart for the first time in his career on 31 May after he took eight wickets in England’s nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second Test at Chester-le-Street.



But the competition at the top of the table is so tight that the number-one ranking has thrice changed hands from Yasir Shah to Ashwin and back to Anderson.  

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2016.

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