Kane Williamson earns top spot in Test Batsmen Rankings

DUBAI: Kane Williamson has become the second New Zealand batsman after Glenn Turner to top the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen after producing a man-of-the-match performance in the Hamilton Test against Sri Lanka.

He scored 108 not out, his 13th century in 46 Tests. He earned 11 points for his efforts, which were enough to put him ahead of England’s Joe Root and AB de Villiers of South Africa in the number-one batting spot.

Root and de Villiers, along with Australia’s fourth-ranked Steven Smith and fifth-ranked David Warner, will go into the Boxing Day Tests, aiming to finish the year as the number-one ranked Test batsman.

Root and de Villiers trail Williamson by three and eight points, respectively, while Smith is 15 and Warner 26 points behind the New Zealander.

In the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, New Zealand’s Tim Southee returned to the top 10, rising two places to the 10th position.

His teammate Doug Bracewell moved up four places to 36th after the match figures of four for 112.  Sri Lanka’s Dushmantha Chameera achieved a career-best ranking of 50.

In the ICC Team Rankings, New Zealand climbed one place to the fifth spot after earning four points for their 2-0 series win over Sri Lanka. They joined England on 99 points, but were ranked higher when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal points.