(ICC) England’s Ian Bell has broken into the top five in the Reliance ICC Test Rankings after recording a career-high batting rating following his brilliant 159 against India at Trent Bridge.
And Stuart Broad’s all-round heroics have seen him climb to third in the all-rounder rankings, while he has also jumped to seventh place in the bowling table following match figures of 8-76.
Bell, who recorded his fourth century in the space of six Test Matches, has recorded a new career-high rating and is just 16 rating points behind England and county teammate Jonathan Trott, who has slipped two places in the rankings to fourth position.
Matt Prior (21st), Stuart Broad (44th) and Tim Bresnan (joint 75th) have also achieved new career-high ratings following England’s 319-run victory which gave it a 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
However, it is not all good news for England’s batters, as Alastair Cook has slipped six places to 11th position following a disappointing series in which he has made just 20 runs in four innings.
Rahul Dravid, who made his second consecutive Test match hundred of the series, has continued his climb up the rankings, rising four places to joint 11th, and is on the verge of breaking back into the top 10, with his best batting rating since India’s last Test series in England in 2007. There are already three India batters in the top 10, with Sachin Tendulkar (third), VVS Laxman (ninth) and Virender Sehwag (10th) just ahead of Dravid.
Tim Bresnan has risen 14 places in the bowling rankings, following his first five-wicket Test haul, to put him 25th on the list, while his innings of 90 in the second innings has helped him rise to 13th in the all-rounder standings.
England is now on course to take top spot on the Reliance ICC Test Championship table. A series win of two clear Tests in the four-match series (2-0 or 3-1) will see Andrew Strauss’s men topple India as the number-one Test side in the world. The table is updated only at the end of each series.
Elsewhere, some of Bangladesh’s star players will be eyeing the opportunity to climb the rankings when they face Zimbabwe in the one-off Test match which begins in Harare tomorrow.
Shakib Al Hasan will be looking to regain ground on Stuart Broad in the all-rounder rankings, having lost his third position as a result of the Trent Bridge Test, and he will also be looking to improve his ninth-place bowling ranking and close the 12-point rating gap on eighth ranked Ishant Sharma.
Bangladesh’s top-ranked batsman is Tamim Iqbal in 19th position and, with just 44 points separating the 10th-placed and 20th-placed players, this is a clear opportunity for him to improve his position.
