
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.

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