Kane Williamson: ICC Test Rankings Kane Williamson becomes the number one batsman, Steve Smith in second place just one point behind

There has been a shocking change in the latest ICC Test rankings. Kane Williamson, who was sidelined with a shoulder injury in the first match of IPL 2023, has become the world's top Test batsman. Earlier England's Joe Root was at the top spot, but after failing in both innings of the second match of the Ashes series, Root has lost the top spot. Root played innings of 10 and 18 runs in this match. Williamson benefited from this. However, Steve Smith, who has had a stellar run in the Ashes so far, is in second place, just one point behind Kane Williamson. In such a situation, Smith can become the top batsman in the Test rankings if he performs well in the third match of the Ashes.

The third match of the ongoing Ashes series will be Steve Smith's 100th Test match and he would like to perform brilliantly in this to regain the top spot in the batsmen's rankings. Smith performed well in the second Ashes Test at Lord's. He scored his 32nd Test century and was awarded the Player of the Match award. For the first time since August 2021, Williams has become the top batsman in Tests. He topped the Test rankings for the first time in November 2015.

Now four batsmen in the top seven spots of the batting rankings in Tests are from Australia. Marnus Labuschagne secured the third spot, followed by Travis Head in fourth and Usman Khawaja in seventh. There is a gap of 17 rating points between the top five batsmen in the rankings released on Wednesday and it means that if Head, Labushen, and Khawaja perform well in the Headingley Test, there could be more changes in the rankings.

In the rankings for Test bowlers, Australian skipper Pat Cummins has moved up two places to reach the second spot and inched closer to India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who continues to top the rankings. Mitchell Starc also saw a jump in the rankings and he also moved up two places to reach the 14th position. However, veteran England fast bowler James Anderson suffered a setback after a poor show in the Ashes 2023 series and has slipped from second to fourth position. On the other hand, young England star Josh Tongue has jumped 27 places to reach 59th position after his impressive performance at Lord's.

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