Amla returns among top three Test batsmen

Misbah loses sixth place to Mathews in latest ICC rankings.

New South Africa captain Hashim Amla returned among the top three Test batsmen and his Sri Lanka counterpart Angelo Mathews achieved a career-best ranking of six, according to the Reliance International Cricket Council (ICC) Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, which were released on Friday.

Amla, who scored 139 not out and 25 in Colombo to inspire his team back to the number one Test ranking, has earned 34 ratings points for his achievement, which helped him leapfrog Australia’s David Warner and Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies into third position.

He now trails second-ranked Kumar Sangakkara by 11 ratings points, while AB de Villiers is sitting on top of the tree on 899 ratings points.

Mathews led his side’s spirited fightback in the second Test when he scored 63 and 63 not out, a performance that gave him a lift of four places to a career-high sixth position.

Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Misbah slipped from sixth to seventh place; he currently sits at 824 ratings points.

The only positive news for the India batsmen was  improvement in Ajinkya Rahane’s rankings. The middle-order batsman scored 54 and 52 not out to rise nine places to a career-best 26th position.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka spinners Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera led the bowlers’ charge in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers while James Anderson and Moeen Ali of England are also headed in the right direction.

Herath had figures of 4-71 and 5-40 and the performances gave him a seven-place push to put him in eighth position. Off-spinner Perera had match figures of 8-129 and was rewarded with a 10-place jump that has lifted him to a career-best 29th place.

Anderson has moved up one place to seventh, while Moeen stormed 34 places to 38th position.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2014.

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