Kane Williamson closes in on Kohli at top of Test rankings

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has reached a career-best 915 rating points after an unbeaten double-century in the first Test against Bangladesh in Hamilton, which was the centerpiece of a victory by an innings and 52 runs.

Williamson’s 200 not out, which earned him the Player of the Match award, has lifted him from 897 points to within seven points of India captain Virat Kohli, who is perched at the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings with 922 points. With two more Tests to go in the series, Williamson has a chance to regain the top spot, which he occupied briefly towards the end of 2015.

Williamson’s rating points are the highest by any New Zealander in Test cricket with Richard Hadlee the only other player from his country to cross the 900-point mark with a best of 909 points in bowling.

Openers Tom Latham and Jeet Raval have also made good progress after their centuries in Hamilton. Latham’s score of 161 has lifted him one place to a career-best 11th position and just three points shy of South Africa’s Faf du Plessis, who is in 10th place with 702 points. Raval’s maiden century, after seven fifties, has helped him gain five slots and reach 33rd position.

Among their bowlers, the pair of Trent Boult (down two places to eighth) and Tim Southee (ninth) remain in the top 10 while Neil Wagner is also moving in the right direction, gaining three places and reaching 11th position after finishing with seven wickets in the match, including a five-wicket haul in the first innings.

For Bangladesh, left-handed opener Tamim Iqbal has gained 11 slots to reach 25th position after scores of 126 and 74, overtaking Shakib Al Hasan to become the top-ranked batsman from his country in this format. Mahmudullah has moved up 12 places to reach a career-best 40th after scoring 22 and 146 while Soumya Sarkar’s one and 149 in Hamilton have lifted him 25 places to 67th position.

Mahmudullah has also gained three places to reach 63rd position among bowlers.

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as of 4 March, after the Hamilton Test)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Avge	Highest Rating
1	( - )	Virat Kohli	India	922	53.76	937 v Eng at Southampton 2018
2	( - )	K. Williamson	NZ	915!	53.20	915 v Ban at Hamilton 2019
3	( - )	C. Pujara	India	881	51.18	888 v SL at Nagpur 2017
4	( - )	Steve Smith	Aus	857	61.37	947 v SA at Durban 2018
5	( - )	Joe Root	Eng	763	49.51	917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015
6	(+1)	David Warner	Aus	756	48.20	880 v NZ at Perth 2015
7	(-2)	Henry Nicholls	NZ	755*	43.84	763 v SL at Christchurch 2018
8	( - )	Aiden Markram	SA	719*	43.80	759 v Aus at Johannesburg 2018
9	( - )	Q. de Kock	SA	718	39.31	802 v NZ at Hamilton 2017
10	( - )	Faf du Plessis	SA	702	42.95	734 v India at Centurion 2018

Other selected rankings

Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Avge	Highest Rating
11	(+1)	Tom Latham	NZ	699!	43.25	699 v Ban at Hamilton 2019
25=	(+11)	Tamim Iqbal	Ban	626	38.98	709 v Aus at Mirpur 2017
33	(+5)	Jeet Raval	NZ	591*	38.29	614 v Win at Hamilton 2017
40=	(+12)	Mahmudullah	Ban	562!	33.01	562 v NZ at Hamilton 2019
60	(+6)	C de Grandhomme NZ	NZ	474*	36.22	483 v Eng at Christchurch 2018
67	(+25)	Soumya Sarkar	Ban	449*	30.75	489 v SL at Colombo (PSS) 2017

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Highest Rating
1	( - )	Pat Cummins	Aus	878*!	22.02 878 v SL at Canberra 2019
2	( - )	J Anderson	Eng	862	26.93 903 v India at Lord's 2018
3	( - )	Kagiso Rabada	SA	851	21.77 902 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2018
4	( - )	V. Philander	SA	813	21.64 912 v India at Johannesburg 2013
5	( - )	R Jadeja	India	794	23.68 899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017
6=	(+1)	Jason Holder	WI	770*	27.69 778 v Eng at Antigua 2019
	(+1)	M. Abbas	Pak	770*	18.86 838 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2018
8	(-2)	Trent Boult	NZ	769	27.97 825 v Eng at Lord's 2015
9	( - )	Tim Southee	NZ	766	29.91 799 v Win at Jamaica 2014
10	( - )	R Ashwin	India	763	25.43 904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016

Other selected rankings

Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Avge	Highest Rating
11	(+3)	Neil Wagner	NZ	745	28.57	785 v Win at Wellington 2017
63	(+3)	Mahmudullah	Ban	243*	45.47	381 v Win at Grenada 2009

All-rounders (top five)

Rank	(+/-)	Player	Team	Pts	Highest Rating
1	( - )	Jason Holder	WI	439/*	448 v Eng at Antigua 2019
2	( - )	S. Al Hasan	Ban	407	489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017
3	( - )	R. Jadeja	India	387	438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017
4	( - )	Ben Stokes	Eng	357	395 v Win at Lord's 2017
5	( - )	V. Philander	SA	326	377 v SL at Galle 2018

*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.