Holder, Stokes in focus in England v West Indies Series

Captains Jason Holder of the West Indies and Ben Stokes of England head into the opening match of their three-Test series as the top two all-rounders in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings, as well as the top-ranked batsmen from their respective sides.

Holder, only the second West Indies player after Sir Garry Sobers to hold the top spot among Test all-rounders, has a career best 473 points going into the Southampton Test. The 28-year-old from Barbados has been at the top since January 2019.

Stokes, who is skipper for the opening match as Joe Root will be away for the birth of his second child, is on 407 points. Stokes would be looking to work his way up in the points aggregate during the series and emulate compatriot Andrew Flintoff, the last England player at the top of the Test all-rounders’ list, in May 2006.

Holder is in 35th position among batsmen with Shane Dowrich, Roston Chase and Kraigg Brathwaite ranked from 44th to 52nd places. Shai Hope, currently in 64th position, would be hoping to move up by striking the kind of form that saw him score twin centuries to win the Leeds Test three years ago. Holder is also their leading bowler, in third position, with fast bowlers Kemar Roach (11th) and Shannon Gabriel (19th) others in the top 20.

Tenth-ranked Stokes is England’s leading batsman in the absence of Root, while their next highest ranked batsman is Rory Burns in 33rd position – back after injuring himself playing football. Formerly top-ranked James Anderson leads the bowlers in eighth position with Chris Woakes (23rd) and Stokes (26th) just outside the top 20.

ICC World Test Championship: England, currently on 146 points, would be aiming to overtake New Zealand (180) to third position in the ICC World Test Championship points table while the West Indies would be hoping to garner their opening points having previously lost 2-0 to table leaders India. England drew a five-Test series 2-2 against Australia and won a four-match series 3-1 against South Africa.

Each series of the WTC is worth 120 points, distributed evenly over the number of matches in a series. The points range from 60 points for each match of a two-Test series to 24 for each match of a five-Test series. The top two teams at the end of the league will play the final to decide the champion.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 6 July, before the England-West Indies series):

Batsmen (top 10)

 Rank    Player               Team     Pts       Avge   Highest Rating

   1        Steve Smith      Aus     911      62.84   947 v SA at Durban 2018

   2        Virat Kohli         India    886      53.62   937 v Eng at Southampton 2018

   3        M Labuschagne Aus     827*!   63.43   827 v NZ at Sydney 2020

   4        K Williamson     NZ       813       50.99   915 v Ban at Hamilton 2019

   5        Babar Azam      Pak     800!     45.12   800 v Ban at Rawalpindi 2020

   6        David Warner    Aus     793       48.94   880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   7        C Pujara           India    766      48.66   888 v SL at Nagpur 2017

   8        Joe Root           Eng     764      48.40   917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   9        Ajinkya Rahane  India    726      42.88   825 v NZ at Indore 2016

  10       Ben Stokes       Eng     718      36.54   745 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2020

  Other selected rankings

 Rank    Player              Team      Pts      Avge    Highest Rating

  33       Rory Burns       Eng      579*    33.75    597 v SA at Centurion 2019

  35       Jason Holder     WI        570      32.72    581 v Eng at Barbados 2019

  42       Joe Denly         Eng      550*    30.00    578 v SA at Cape Town 2020

  44       Shane Dowrich  WI        544!     30.08    544 v Afg at Lucknow 2019

  48=     Jonny Bairstow  Eng      516      34.74    772 v SA at Old Trafford 2017

             Roston Chase   WI        516      31.38    626 v Pak at Dominica 2017

  52       K Brathwaite     WI        508      33.29    701 v Eng at Headingley 2017

  64       Shai Hope         WI        479      27.23    653 v Zim at Bulawayo 2017

Bowlers (top 10)

 Rank    Player              Team      Pts      Avge    Highest Rating

   1        Pat Cummins    Aus      904      21.82    914 v Eng at Old Trafford 2019

   2        Neil Wagner      NZ        843      26.60    859 v Aus at Melbourne 2019

   3        Jason Holder     WI        830!     26.37    830 v Afg at Lucknow 2019

   4        Tim Southee     NZ        812!     29.00    812 v India at Christchurch 2020

   5        Kagiso Rabada SA        802      22.95    902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018

   6        Mitchell Starc    Aus      796      26.97    806 v NZ at Perth 2019

   7        Jasprit Bumrah  India     779*    20.33    835 v WI at Jamaica 2019

   8        J Anderson       Eng      775      26.83    903 v India at Lord's 2018

   9        Trent Boult        NZ        770      27.65    825 v Eng at Lord's 2015

  10       J Hazlewood     Aus      769      26.20    863 v India at Bengaluru 2017

Other selected rankings

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts      Avge    Highest Rating

  11       (-1)       Kemar Roach    WI        763      27.13    780 v India at Jamaica 2019

  13       (-1)       Stuart Broad     Eng      753      28.50    880 v SA at Jo'burg 2016

  19       ( - )       S Gabriel          WI        673      30.63    757 v Ban at Jamaica 2018

  23       ( - )       Chris Woakes   Eng      594*    30.88    609 v Pak at The Oval 2016

  26       ( - )       Ben Stokes       Eng      567      32.68    606 v WI at St Lucia 2019

  27=     ( - )       Moeen Ali         Eng      548      36.59    633 v WI at Edgbaston 2017

  36       ( - )       Mark Wood       Eng      439*!   31.41    439 v SA at Jo'burg 2020

  37=     ( - )       Jofra Archer      Eng      410*    27.40    465 v Aus at The Oval 2019

  39=     ( - )       Sam Curran      Eng      394*    31.70    409 v SA at Cape Town 2020

            ( - )       Jack Leach       Eng      394*    29.02    450 v Aus at The Oval 2019

  41       ( - )       R Cornwall        WI         364*!    22.61    364 v Afg at Lucknow 2019

All-rounders (top five)

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts      Highest Rating

   1        ( - )       Jason Holder     WI        473!     473 v Afg at Lucknow 2019

   2        ( - )       Ben Stokes       Eng      407      411 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2020

   3        ( - )       R Jadeja           India     397      438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017

   4        ( - )       M Starc              Aus      298      346 v India at Pune 2017

   5        ( - )       R Ashwin          India     282      492 v Eng at Mohali 2016

 *indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.

!indicates career-highest rating

For more information on player rankings, please click here.