Australia has not played Test cricket of late, but that did not prevent Steven Smith from leapfrogging Kane Williamson to reclaim the top position in the ICC Test ranking for batters, released on 17 June. Joe Root, meanwhile, slumped to the fifth spot after an underwhelming outing against New Zealand.
Williamson missed the second Test match due to an elbow injury and could only manage 13 runs in the first. He lost five points and slid below Smith.
Smith, meanwhile, has not played a Test match since the historic 1-2 loss to India at home a few months ago. He will hit the ground almost a year later in the upcoming Ashes series.
Among others, Virat Kohli moved up to the fourth, while compatriots Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma have also retained their joint sixth positions.
An unbeaten 141 for Quinton de Kock against West Indies has propelled him to a career-best 12th place.
Among bowlers, R Ashwin is the only Indian in the top ten. With 850 points, Ashwin is just behind top-ranked Pat Cummins. Tim Southee follows Ashwin at No. 3, while Neil Wagner has maintained the fifth position.
Kagiso Rabada’s five-for in the first Test against West Indies has propelled him to joint-seventh place with James Anderson.