The first Proteas-Sri Lanka Test at Galle was reflected in the latest ICC Test ranking as Dimuth Karunaratne leaped up and pushed Hashim Amla out of the top 10 batsmen list.
The Sri Lanka left-handed opener, who scored an unbeaten 158 and 60 in the crushing 278-run win, rose 21 places to enter at No 10, dropping Amla to 11th, alongside Ross Taylor of New Zealand. Amla, who scored 15 and 0, is going through a lean spell, averaging 25.87 from his last eight Tests.
Karunaratne collected 128 points for his efforts against the second-best Test team in the world, and he now trails Dinesh Chandimal, in ninth, by 20 points.
Aiden Markram, however, moved up one place to seventh, easing his opening partner, Dean Elgar, to eighth. Proteas captain Faf du Plessis dropped two places to tied 16th with England’s Jonny Bairstow.
Kagiso Rabada, who returned 4-50 and 3-44 on a wicket that did not favour seam bowling, maintained his place as No 1 Test bowler in the world, while Vernon Philander remained at No 4. Dale Steyn, making his comeback since being injured in the first Test against India in January, slipped two places to 19th.
Test team rankings will be updated after the Sri Lanka versus South Africa series.
If South Africa win the second and final Test to level the series in Colombo, then they will finish on 110 points (down by two) and Sri Lanka will end on 93 points (up by two points).
But, if Sri Lanka win the series 2-0, then they will join England on 97 points, but will be ranked below Joe Root’s side by a fraction of a point, and South Africa will join Australia on 106 points, but will be ranked ahead of Tim Paine’s side when the rankings are calculated beyond the decimal point.
Sri Lanka lead the two-match Test series 1-0 with the second Test starting on Friday in Galle (6:30am SA time).
ICC Test rankings:
Batsmen: 1, Steve Smith (Australia) – 929pts; 2, Virat Kohli (India) – 903; 3, Joe Root (England) – 855; 4, Kane Williamson (NZ) – 847; 5, David Warner (Australia) – 820; 6, Cheteshwar Pujara (India) – 799; 7, Aiden Markram (SA) – 750; 8, Dean Elgar (SA) – 746; 9, Dinesh Chandimal (Sri Lanka) – 740; 10, Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka) – 720.
Bowlers: 1, Kagiso Rabada (SA) – 899; 2, James Anderson (England) – 892;,3, Ravindra Jadeja (India) – 866; 4, Vernon Philander (SA) – 834; 5, Ravichandran Ashwin (India) – 811; 6, Pat Cummins (Aus) – 800; 7, Trent Boult (NZ) – 795; 8= Neil Wagner (NZ) – 765; Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka) – 765; 10, Josh Hazlewood (Australia) – 759.
All-rounders: 1, Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh) – 420; 2, Ravindra Jadeja (Indis) – 394; 3, Vernon Philander (SA) – 378; 4, Ravichandran Ashwin (India) – 365; 5, Jason Holder (West Indies) – 354.
Photo: Deryck Foster/BackpagePix
