Australia’s Steve Smith has climbed the rankings after his impressive performance in the second Test against England at Lord’s. However, Kane Williamson has overtaken Joe Root to claim the number one spot in the Men’s Test Player Rankings. Smith’s outstanding display, which earned him the ‘player of the match’ award with scores of 110 and 34, has propelled him to the second position, trailing Williamson by just one rating point.

Root’s underwhelming performance, managing only 10 and 18 runs, caused him to slip to fifth place, allowing Williamson to reclaim the top spot. This marks Williamson’s sixth stint as the number one-ranked player, having previously held the position in November 2015 and August 2021.

ALSO READ: Praveen Kumar And Son Involved In Car Accident: Escaped Unharmed

The competition for the top positions in the rankings is expected to intensify as Smith is hot on Williamson’s heels with just one point separating them. Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head, in third and fourth place respectively, are also separated by a single point.

In other rankings updates, England’s Ben Duckett has surged 24 places to break into the top 20 for the first time in his career following impressive scores of 98 and 83 in the second Ashes Test. His captain, Ben Stokes, has climbed nine places to 23rd after his valiant knock of 155 in the second innings.

Among the bowlers, Australian captain Pat Cummins has risen to second position after his four-wicket haul in the match, while Mitchell Starc has moved up two places to 14th with six wickets. Opening batsman David Warner has also made progress, moving up four places to 26th in the batting rankings.

ALSO READ: Garfield Sobers, Rohit Sharma, And Rahul Dravid Unite In A Special Moment In Barbados

In the ODI Player Rankings, Ireland’s Harry Tector has gained one position to joint-sixth after his score of 60 against Nepal in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier. Scott Edwards of the Netherlands and Pathum Nissanka of Sri Lanka have also made gains in the batting rankings, while Nepal’s Sandeep Lamichhane has risen in the bowling rankings with an impressive performance. Sri Lanka’s Maheesh Theekshana and Scotland’s Chris Sole have also made notable progress in the rankings.