HUGE GAINS FOR ESTERHUIZEN, PRETORIUS IN ICC MEN’S T20I PLAYER RANKINGS

South Africa batters Connor Esterhuizen and Lhuan-dre Pretorius have made huge gains in the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings after some fine knocks in the Namibia T20I Tri-Series which their team won after defeating Zimbabwe by 48 runs in the final on Sunday.

Esterhuizen struck 88 against Namibia in a league match and 32 in the final to make a whopping 65-place ascent to a career-best 25^th position while Pretorius, who missed the final due to a groin injury, has advanced 61 places to 43^rd after knocks of 94 against Zimbabwe and 101 against Namibia in league matches.

Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus has advanced 16 places to 55^th following unbeaten knocks of 88 against Zimbabwe and 30 against South Africa in the last league match of the tri-series played on Friday. Erasmus is also up four places to eighth among all-rounders while Namibia opener Louren Steenkamp, who struck 61 not out on Friday, has advanced 32 slots to joint-73^rd in the batting rankings.

The ICC Men’s T20I Bowling Rankings see Zimbabwe all-rounder Brad Evans move up four places to joint-22^nd position after taking two wickets each in three league matches of the tournament this past week which helped him finish the double-league tournament with a total of 10 wickets.

Zimbabwe fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani (up two places to 30^th), South Africa’s left-arm seamer Kwena Maphaka (up 16 places to joint-38^th) and left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin (up 37 places to 78^th) have also made their way up the ladder.

ENDS