Matt Henry has ended a 36-year wait. The New Zealand pacer is now the top-ranked Test bowler in the ICC rankings, levelling with Jasprit Bumrah on 870 rating points after a match-winning display at The Oval.
Joe Root, England’s stand-in captain, reclaimed the No. 1 spot among Test batters in the same update. Both moves came after New Zealand’s series-levelling 253-run win in the second WTC Test against England.
Matt Henry Joins New Zealand Legends at the Top of ICC Bowling Rankings
Henry’s performance at The Oval was the defining factor behind his rise. He claimed 5 for 80 in the first innings and followed it with a devastating 6 for 29 in the second, finishing with 11 wickets in the match. New Zealand won by 253 runs, squaring the series ahead of the decider at Trent Bridge.
The numbers moved Henry up six places in the rankings. He now sits alongside Jack Cowie, who held the top spot in 1947, and Sir Richard Hadlee, who claimed it between 1984 and 1990, as the only New Zealand bowlers to reach No. 1 in Test cricket. Henry is the first from his country to achieve it in 36 years.
Other New Zealand batters made gains from the result as well. Rachin Ravindra climbed two places to 10th after scores of 33 and 76. Daryl Mitchell moved up five spots to 16th with 44 and 68. Glenn Phillips, who scored a century in the first innings, rose eight places to 31st. Henry Nicholls jumped 13 spots to 40th following a first-innings 24 and a second-innings 121.
Joe Root Reclaims No. 1 Test Batter Spot for the 12th Time
Root scored 46 and 77 at The Oval, enough to push him back to the top of the ICC Test batting rankings. He moved past both Harry Brook and Australia’s Travis Head to claim the position. Root leads the table by five points and holds the No. 1 ranking for the 12th time in his career.
The third and final Test between England and New Zealand begins at Trent Bridge on Thursday, with the series level at 1-1.
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Shubman Gill, Arshdeep Singh and Australia Stars Also Move in Latest ICC Update
Away from the WTC, the ODI series between India and Afghanistan and the T20I series between Bangladesh and Australia also produced notable ranking movements.
Shubman Gill jumped three places to second in the ODI batting rankings after scoring 84 not out and 154 across two innings in India’s 3-0 series win over Afghanistan. He sits on 791 rating points, 24 behind New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell, who holds the top spot on 815.
Arshdeep Singh was the biggest mover among India’s bowlers. He climbed 16 places to 22nd in the ODI bowling rankings after picking up five wickets in two outings against Afghanistan.
In T20I cricket, Australia captain Mitchell Marsh rose four places to ninth among batters after scoring 93 runs in the series against Bangladesh, including 60 in the final match. Nathan Ellis moved up three spots to seventh in the T20I bowling rankings following three wickets across three games.
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