Thirty-six year rankings drought over, two new No.1s crowned

An action-packed ICC World Test Championship contest between England and New Zealand at The Oval has seen a pair of red-ball stars rise to the top of the ICC Men's Test Player Rankings.

Pacer Matt Henry becomes just the third New Zealander to become the top ranked Test bowler as the 34-year-old joins India seamer Jasprit Bumrah at the top of the bowler rankings following his 11-wicket haul during the second Test against England.

Bumrah had occupied top position on his own since overtaking Kagiso Rabada in November 2024, but Henry climbs to the top after he played a major role in helping New Zealand level their three-game World Test Championship series with England at 1-1.

Henry joins Jack Cowie (1947) and Richard Hadlee (1984-1990) as New Zealanders to hold the premier ranking for bowlers in Test cricket, with the right-armer breaking a 36-year drought for the Kiwis in the category.

Henry's current points tally of 870 has only ever been exceeded by two New Zealand players, with Hadlee reaching a peak of 909 in 1985 and former skipper Kane Williamson obtaining 919 rating points for Test batters when he was at his peak in 2021.

The rise of Henry to joint top wasn't the only change at the pointy end of the Test rankings this week, with England veteran Joe Root regaining his place as the No.1 ranked Test batter following his efforts against the Black Caps at The Oval.

Root managed scores of 46 and 77 as England slumped to a 253-run loss in London, with his innings proving enough to see the right-hander gain two places and overtake teammate Harry Brook and Australia's Travis Head and regain the premier position for the 12th time across his illustrious career.

Both Root and Brook have enjoyed time in the No.1 spot in recent times, with the Yorkshire pair having exchanged top position a total of six times across the past 18 months since Root overtook Williamson at the head of proceedings.

There was plenty of movement for New Zealand's batters following their heaviest-ever win in England, with Rachin Ravindra (up two places to 10th), Daryl Mitchell (up five rungs to 16th), Glenn Phillips (up eight spots to 31st) and Henry Nicholls (up 13 slots to 40th) all making ground following some impressive efforts with the bat of late.

There was also plenty of movement in both white-ball categories this week, following the completion of India's ODI series against Afghanistan and Australia's T20I series with Bangladesh.

Shubman Gill gains three places to move to second on the updated list for ODI batters, with the India right-hander now only trailing No.1 ranked Mitchell by 24 rating points.

India teammate Ishan Kishan jumps a whopping 21 spots to move to equal 43rd for ODI batters, while Afghanistan are boosted by the rise of Hashmatullah Shahidi who gains four places to move to 52nd on the same list.

And there are a trio of Indian players who rise the charts for ODI bowlers, with Arshdeep Singh (up 16 slots to 22nd), Prasidh Krishna (up 34 places to equal 58th) and Washington Sundar (up 17 rungs to joint 71st) all making gains following their efforts against Afghanistan.

In the shortest format there are big gains for a pair of Australian players following their T20I series sweep away from home against Bangladesh.

Skipper Mitch Marsh rises four places to move to ninth on the list for T20I batters, while compatriot Nathan Ellis jumps three spots to rise to seventh on the rankings for T20I bowlers.

While Bangladesh fell to a 3-0 series loss to the Aussies, they will be buoyed by gains for Towhid Hridoy (up nine slots to 30th) and Saif Hassan (up 13 places to equal 35th) on the list for T20I batters and Nasum Ahmed (up 27 slots to 11th) on the rankings for T20I bowlers.