Starc displaces Jansen to reclaim top spot in ICC rankings for Test bowlers

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc has reclaimed the top spot among Test bowlers in the ICC rankings and displaced South Africa allrounder Marco Jansen. The latest rankings update came after the third Test between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town, where Starc took nine wickets and Jansen bagged three.

Starc's figures were 6 for 72 and 3 for 65 in the Test that Australia lost by 176 runs to concede the series 2-1. Jansen was named the Player of the Series for his 198 runs with the bat and 13 wickets in the three Tests, and as a result, he became the top-ranked Test bowler only last week for the first time.

Jansen's team-mate Simon Harmer took ten wickets in the game, and was the Player of the Match. That helped him climb nine places to seventh spot among bowlers. His 817 rating points are the second-highest by a South African spinner, behind Hugh Tayfield, who had 895 in February 1957.

Harmer's match haul also helped him climb three positions on the allrounders rankings to go fifth; Jansen (No. 1 rank) and Wiaan Mulder (ranked third) are the other South Africans in the top five. Ravindra Jadeja (second) and Mehidy Hasan (fourth) make up the others in the top five.

Mulder's knock of 115 in the second innings in Cape Town helped him advance seven places among batters to a career-best 17th, while Ryan Rickelton climbed 25 places to 23rd after his 101.

There were movements in the ODI rankings too after the tri-series ended in Pakistan. Ben Duckett achieved a career-best sixth rank after his knock of 167 off 132 balls against Sri Lanka, whereas Pavan Rathnayake, whose recent scores read 77 and 118, made a massive jump of 20 slots to be placed 16th. Fakhar Zaman's match-winning knock of 127 in the final saw him rise nine positions to reach 37th.

After the conclusion of India's T20I series in New Zealand, captain Shreyas Iyer rose two ranks to seventh after his 50 in the fifth game, whereas Glenn Phillips jumped 13 spots to 24th after being named Player of the Series for scoring 341 runs in the five games.