40-year-old Anderson climbs to the top

DUBAI: The remarkable career of James Anderson continues to reach new heights as the England quick overtook Australia captain Pat Cummins and India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to become the No 1 ranked bowler on the latest MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Rankings.

An International Cricket Council news release said Anderson rose to the top on the back of his seven-wicket haul for England during their emphatic 267-run victory over New Zealand in Mount Maunganui last week, with the evergreen 40-year-old ending Cummins’ four-year reign as the top-ranked Test bowler.

It is the sixth time that Anderson has held the title as the premier bowler on the Test rankings, with the right-armer first scaling the heights back in May 2016 when he went past teammate Stuart Broad and Ashwin to hold top billing in a distinguished international career that commenced way back in 2003.

More recently Anderson held on to the top ranking for five months in 2018, with the veteran speedster losing the top spot to South Africa pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada in November of that year.

But the old adage that life begins at 40 certainly rings true for Anderson, who has found a fresh lease of life under new coach Brendon McCullum as England have registered 10 wins from their last 11 Test matches.

Anderson has been a mainstay in the majority of those triumphs and the England legend now has collected a total of 682 Test scalps to be third on the all-time list for Test wickets behind spin duo Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Shane Warne (708).

His rise to the top at the spritely age of 40 years and 207 days also means he is the oldest bowler to hold the top ranking since Australian great Clarrie Grimmett did so back in 1936.

Anderson’s lead at the top is very slender though, with Ashwin remaining in second place on a total of 864 rating points and just two rating points behind the England pacer.

Cummins drops to third on 858 rating points, but could still regain top billing with some strong performances during Australia’s ongoing Test series against India.

While the shakeup at the top of the Test bowler charts is the highlight of a big week of change on the rankings, there is also plenty of players on the move in other categories.

New Zealand pair Tom Blundell (11th) and Devon Conway (17th) rise to career-high positions on the rankings for Test batters, while England trio Ollie Pope (23rd), Harry Brook (31st) and Ben Duckett (38th) also earn the same recognition with their own highest ratings.

India players didn’t miss out completely on the latest rankings update either, with spinner Ravindra Jadeja moving up seven places to ninth on the updated list for Test bowlers.

Team-mate Axar Patel — who is the second leading run-scorer for the series thus far with 158 runs — is also rewarded by moving up two places to fifth overall on the latest Test all-rounder rankings.

Ravindra Jadeja is on top among the all-rounders. Ravichandran Ashwin is second and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan third.

Marnus Labuschagne continues to lead the batters’ rankings. He is followed by fellow Australian Steve Smith and Pakistan’s star batsman Babar Azam in second and third place, respectively.

Test player rankings: Batsmen: 1. Marnus Labuschagne (Aus), 912 points; 2. Steve Smith (Aus), 875; 3. Babar Azam (Pak), 862; 4. Travis Head (Aus), 826; 5. Joe Root (Eng), 814; 6. Rishabh Pant (Ind), 781; 7. Rohit Sharma (Ind), 777; 8. Kane Williamson (NZ), 769; 9. Dimuth Karunaratne (SL), 748; 10. Usman Khawaja (Aus), 746.

Bowlers: 1. James Anderson (Eng), 866 points; 2. Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind), 864; 3. Pat Cummins (Eng), 858; 4. Ollie Robinson (Eng), 820; 5. Jasprit Bumrah (Ind), 795; 6. Shaheen Afridi (Pak), 787; 7. Kagiso Rabada (RSA), 776; 8. Kyle Jamieson (NZ), 765; 9. Ravindra Jadeja (Ind), 763; 10. Mitchell Starc (Aus), 735.

All-rounders: 1. Ravindra Jadeja (Ind), 460 points; 2. Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind), 376; 3. Shakib Al Hasan (BD), 329; 4. Ben Stokes (Eng), 320; 5. Axar Patel (Ind), 283; 6. Mitchell Starc (Aus), 265; 7. Jason Holder (WI), 264; 8. Pat Cummins (Aus), 228; 9. Kyle Mayers (WI), 225; 10. Joe Root (Eng), 209.