LONDON, CMC – Elegant West Indies strokemaker Shai Hope has moved into the top 10 of the ICC one-day batting rankings for the first time, following his heavy scoring in the recent series against India.
In the latest rankings released yesterday, the 26-year-old opener had jumped five spots to ninth position, to be the highest placed West Indies batsman.
His upward movement comes on the heels of the three-match series against India where he gathered 222 runs at an average of 111, to top the Caribbean side’s aggregates.
The Barbadian struck an unbeaten 102 in the opening ODI in Chennai which West Indies won by eight wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Overall, Hope has scored eight ODI hundreds and boasts a career average of 52.75. More instructively, he has scored four hundreds in 2019 at an average of 61.13 – the highest of any player who has featured in more than 20 matches.
Hope was one of several West Indies players enjoying a rise in the ICC rankings. Left-hander Shimron Hetmyer, who finished the India series with 180 runs at an average of 60 – including a career-best 139 in Chennai – has jumped six places to 19th.
And Nicholas Pooran, another exciting left-hander, enjoyed the biggest leap moving 33 places to 30th, following a series which saw him plunder two half-centuries en route to 193 runs at an average of 96.50.
The trio are the only West Indies players in the top 50 of the rankings.
In the bowling rankings, left-arm speedster Sheldon Cottrell leapt six spots to 30th after picking up five wickets while rookie seamer Keemo Paul catapulted 35 places to 104th after claiming six wickets in the series.
India captain and master batsman Virat Kohli tops the batting rankings while teammate, seamer Jasprit Bumrah, continues at the top of the bowling rankings.
