Leach, Patel headline spinners’ rise in ICC rankings

Three Test matches, three brilliant results.

In Dhaka, Bangladesh put up a strong all-round show to trump Zimbabwe by 218 runs and square their two-Test series, Sri Lanka lost the second Test in a row to England after a stirring performance from the visiting spinners in Pallekele, and New Zealand hung on to clinch one of the narrowest wins in Test history over Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.

Spinners from across the six teams shone bright in the bowlers’ rankings.

There were no changes in the top 18 positions, and then there was Yasir Shah, whose eight wickets in Abu Dhabi took him up two places to 19th, even as Sri Lanka’s Dilruwan Perera remained at No.18 with a career-high 680 points after picking up seven wickets in Pallekele.

The bowling stars of Bangladesh’s win were Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan, and they moved up three and seven spots to No.27 and No.28 respectively, both with career-best points and rankings.

Then there was Zimbabwe’s Kyle Jarvis at No.40, up 19 spots, Sri Lanka’s Akila Dananjaya at No.41, a gain of 14 spots, and Pakistan’s Hasan Ali, who moved up 24 spots to No.44 – the best they have done in their careers so far.

The standout bowlers in Pallekele and Abu Dhabi were Jack Leach and Ajaz Patel, the debutant. Leach gained 30 places following his eight wickets in the match to get to the 43rd position, while Patel entered the rankings at a fantastic No.68 after winning the Player of the Match award with six wickets.

It was spin calling the shots across the three centres in Asia, but there was one excellent batting performance, and it came from the Bangladeshis, desperate to level their series against Zimbabwe.

Rahim led the way there, scoring a Bangladesh-best 219*, while Mominul Haque scored 161 in the first innings, and after Zimbabwe’s first turn, captain Mahmudullah scored a quick 101* to put the match beyond the visitors despite Brendan Taylor’s 110 and 106*.

Rahim went up to joint No.18, with the Windies’ Kraigg Brathwaite, after moving up 13 places, while Taylor rose 18 places to No.27, Haque was up nine spots to No.35, and Mahmudullah, lower down in the table, went up 17 spots to No.57.

Dinesh Chandimal, out of action with an injury, was the only one to slip within the top 10, moving down to the 10th spot, while Aiden Markram swapped positions with him, but Angelo Mathews (up five to No.16) did make gains.

Among the other batsmen to do well, New Zealand’s Henry Nicholls gained 13 positions to get to No.20 after scoring 28 and 55, while Sri Lanka’s Roshen Silva gained 25 spots to get to No.53 after his 85 and 37.

England’s new batting stars, Ben Foakes and Rory Burns, created a big splash too. Foakes, who followed up his debut century with 19 and 65*, went up to the 54th spot, while Burns, after scoring 43 and 59 in England’s series-clinching win, moved up 56 positions to finish just outside the top 100 at No.103.