Anderson, Root earn career best Test rankings

DUBAI: James Anderson, Joe Root and Gary Ballance on Sunday achieved career-best rankings in the ICC Test Player Rankings after inspiring England to a nine-wicket victory over West Indies.
Anderson returned figures of two for 47 and four for 43 for which he has been rewarded with a leap of three places that puts him alongside Australia’s Ryan Harris in second position.
This is Anderson’s career-best ranking to date, while his rating of 826 is also his Test best.
Root not only won the player of the match award for his 182 not out but has also been rewarded with a jump of five places that has put him in a career-best fifth position. At 865 points, he is also enjoying his career-high rating with fourth-ranked Steven Smith firmly within his sights.
Ballance is the other England player to achieve a career-high ranking. His scores of 77 and 81 not out have pushed him up five places to 17th in the latest rankings.
Other batsmen to make gains include Alastair Cook 27th (up by two places), Marlon Samuels 28th (up by three places), Darren Bravo 32nd (up by two places) and Kraigg Brathwaite 34th (up by eight places).
The batting table is headed by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangkkara, with South Africa team-mates AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla sitting second and third, respectively.