Herath leapfrogs Ashwin to second place

Friday, 21 July 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ESPNCricinfo: Rangana Herath has leapfrogged R Ashwin to be ranked as the No. 2 bowler in Tests, following his match haul of 11 wickets against Zimbabwe in the one-off Test at Khettarama.

Herath claimed his eighth ten-wicket haul and also passed the tallies of Waqar Younis (373), Malcolm Marshall (376) and Ian Botham (383) in Colombo. All of that contributed to Sri Lanka achieving the highest successful chase in Asia, beating Zimbabwe by four wickets.

Ashwin, as a result, moved down to third place while James Anderson, who took seven wickets in the Trent Bridge Test, climbed one place to be tied with Josh Hazlewood on fourth.

Hashim Amla, who made fifties in each innings in Trent Bridge, returned to the top ten on the batting front. He moved six spots up to seventh. Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza, who struck centuries in the Khettarama Test, were also major gainers, achieving career-best rankings. Ervine moved up 20 places to 40th while Raza vaulted 28 places to 48th.

Vernon Philander continued his steady rise towards the top in the allrounders’ rankings. Philander’s Man-of-the-Match performance at Trent Bridge - he scored 96 runs and took five wickets - saw him rise two places to break into the top five. He also moved to ninth in the bowlers’ rankings.

Other significant movers were Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer, whose nine wickets against Sri Lanka helped him gain 20 places to a career-best 53rd while South Africa left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj rose 12 spots to 26th after claiming six wickets against England at Trent Bridge.