Marnus Labuschagne displaces Joe Root as No. 1 Test batter

Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne has risen to the top of the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings, surpassing England captain Joe Root, who had been on top since August this year.

In the second Ashes Test held in Adelaide, Labuschagne scored his first Ashes century and followed that with a half-century in the second innings (103 and 51), as he went on to be adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’ for contributing towards Australia’s 275-run win over England.

He is the ninth player from Australia to have crossed the 900-point mark with the bat, joining the elite league of gentlemen, Sir Donald Bradman, Ricky Pointing, Mathew Hayden, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke etc.

Within the bowlers, Mitchell Starc is back in the world’s top ten Test bowlers for the first time since this January. Whilst his compatriot Pat Cummins held onto the top spot despite missing the second Test. England’s Ollie Robinson is in the world’s top 25 bowlers for the first time at a career-best 597 points and Joe Root has made his first appearance in the world’s top 10 all-rounders after his 111th Test appearance.

In the ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings there is a tie for top spot of batters between Pakistan’s Babar Azam and England’s Dawid Malan.  Mohammad Rizwan is now at a career-best 798 points and is the second Pakistani in the top three batter’s category.

Nicholas Pooran was the bright spot for the West Indies in their 3-0 T20I series defeat against Pakistan. His 108 runs at a strike rate of 147.94 took him up to 27th place, up from his previous career best of 30th.

ICC Men’s Test player rankings

ICC Men’s T20I player rankings