Post Ashes series: Smith finishes as top Test batsman

26-year-old has overtaken second-place de Villiers.

Steven Smith has reclaimed the top spot in the latest ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen which were released following the conclusion of The Oval and P Sara Oval Tests.

The incoming Australia captain started the Ashes series at the top of the rankings on 913 points, but had lost his place to England’s Joe Root after the Trent Bridge Test. However, after scoring 143 in his side’s an innings and 46 runs victory at the The Oval, the 26-year-old has overtaken second-placed AB de Villiers, as well as Root, who has dropped to third following scores of six and 11.

Root had started the series in seventh place on 815 points and has gained 74 points and four places over the course of the series.

There was further good news for David Warner, who has moved up two places to ninth after scoring 85, while Chris Rogers concluded his career in 10th place (after climbing 13 places since the start of the series) as the second-highest left-handed batsmen in the rankings behind another illustrious retiree Kumar Sangakkara, who finished his career in seventh spot.

Sangakkara, who scored 32 and 18 in Sri Lanka’s 278 runs defeat at the P Sara Oval, first reached number one in the Test batting rankings in December 2007 against England after innings of 92 and 152 in Kandy.

Sangakkara spent a total of 97 Tests and 812 days as the top-ranked Test batsman in the world and was last number-one in December 2014, before losing the top spot to de Villiers. His highest-ever points tally was 938, achieved on December 1, 2007, and that total is the highest-ever achieved by a Sri Lanka batsman to date and the joint sixth-highest of all-time.

Meanwhile, Michael Clarke has finished his 115-Test career in 25th spot. Clarke had surged to the top of the rankings in August 2009 and repeated it for the last time in February 2013. During this period, he topped the batting rankings on several occasions (totaling 11 Tests and 70 days).

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2015.

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