Williamson up to two in batting rankings

Kane Williamson on his way towards a double century against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

New Zealand’s premier batter Kane Williamson has moved back towards the top spot in the ICC men’s test batting rankings.

Williamson, a formerly top-ranked batter, has moved up four slots to take second position in the list led by Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne after top scoring with 215 in an innings victory over Sri Lanka in Wellington that helped seal their two-match World Test Championship series 2-0.

Henry Nicholls, who scored 200 not out and featured in a triple-century partnership with Williamson, has also made rapid progress, moving up 20 places to 27th position.

Daryl Mitchell stays at number eight.

In the test bowling rankings Black Caps captain Tim Southee is up one place to 11th and Matt Henry is up four places to 31st.

India’s Ravi Ashwin is the top ranked test bowler.

For Sri Lanka, captain Dimuth Karunaratne is in the top 10 with scores of 89 and 51.

In the ODI rankings, which considers performances in two matches each of the India-Australia, Bangladesh-Ireland and South Africa-West Indies series, as well as the first match between Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, Australian Josh Hazlewood is the new number one bowler with Trent Boult number two.

Pakistan’s Babar Azam remains the number one ranked ODI batter.