Sri Lanka Players Rise In Recent ICC Men's Test Rankings After England Win
Six Sri Lankan players have obtained new career-high ratings on the latest ICC Men's Test Rankings following their victory over England in the third Test match at The Oval. Sri Lanka produced their first Test win over England away from home in the third Test of their recently-completed series, with the likes of skipper Dhananjaya de Silva, middle-order performer Kamindu Mendis and opener Pathum Nissanka leading the way with the bat for the island nation.
It was De Silva who top-scored for Sri Lanka in the first innings of the Test with a stylish 69 and that helped the right-hander obtain a new career-best rating and gain three places to move to 13th overall on the Test rankings for batters to now be the leading player on the list from his team.
Mendis and Nissanka also found their new career-best ratings on the list for Test batters, with the former gaining six places to improve to 19th overall following a half-century of his own against England and the latter jumping a whopping 42 spots to 39th after an innings of 64 and 127*.
England's Joe Root holds on to his spot as the No. 1 ranked Test batter despite scores of just 13 and 12 at The Oval, although the right-hander saw his rating fall from 922 rating points to 899 and allows the likes of New Zealand duo Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell and Australia's Steve Smith to draw closer.
It's a similar story for England's Harry Brook, with the right-hander falling seven places to 12th after scores of 19 and three against Sri Lanka.
It's not all bad news for England though, with stand-in skipper Ollie Pope gaining seven places and improving to equal 27th following a century in the first innings against Sri Lanka and keeper Jamie Smith jumps six spots to equal 30th after a