Australia batsman Steve Smith and fast bowler Pat Cummins were spotted at the top of the ICC Test Player Rankings after the Ashes, where England has claimed a 135-run victory over Aussies on Sunday in the final Test and the five-match series ended in a 2-2 draw.
Smith has started the series in the fourth position and his incredible efforts have put him at the top. With the scores of 80 and 23 in the final Ashes test helped him to retain his position with 34 points ahead of Virat Kohli with 937 rating points. Cummins too was seen enjoying a lead of 57 points over second-placed Kagiso Rabada after finishing as the top wicket-taker with 29 scalps.
Smith became the highest run-scorer in a single Test series in the 21st century. On his way to 774 runs, Smith went past his own record of scoring 769 runs against India during the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar series.
Other players from Australia who were seen in the ICC test rankings were Matthew Wade and Mitchell Marsh. Wade has lifted him 32 places to 78th with his fourth Test century and the five-wicket haul of Marsh’s maiden helped him gain 20 places to reach 54th position.
While David Warner was seen dropped by seven places after the Test to finish in 24th position among batsmen. Josh Hazlewood has moved down from 12th to eighth after briefly making the top-10 among bowlers.
England’s fast bowler Jofra Archer was seen to move into the top 40 for the first time after grabbing six first-innings wickets while left-arm seamer Sam Curran has gained six slots to reach 65th position with three wickets.
