Low-scoring Test matches in Jamaica and Galle meant bowlers made all the big moves, with Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne standing out among the batsmen.
Karunaratne scored 158 in Sri Lanka’s first-innings total of 287 against South Africa, and then scored further 60 in the second, his tally of 218 more than South Africa’s combined total of 199 for the match.
The performance, which took Karunaratne’s career tally up to eight centuries and 15 half-centuries, gave Sri Lanka a 278-run win inside three days and a 1-0 edge in the two-Test series. On the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings front, Karunaratne moved up a whopping 21 spots to enter the top 10. In the latest update, he was at No.10 with a career-high 720 points.
While there were no other major changes in the top 10 bar Aiden Markram (No.7) and Dean Elgar (No.8) trading spots, Kraigg Brathwaite’s 110 in the first innings against Bangladesh in the Windies’ 166-run win – which gave them the series 2-0 – took him to No.13, a jump of three places.
There were no changes in the top seven places among the bowlers, but Rangana Herath moved up two places to join Neil Wagner at No.8 after picking up five wickets in Galle.
Herath was, however, overshadowed by his spin partner Dilruwan Perera, who had an outstanding Test match, returning 4/46 and 6/32. The second-innings performance was Perera’s best in his 30 Tests to date, and the match figures a career-best too. He jumped seven places to No.25 as a result.
The biggest mover in the bowling table was, understandably, Jason Holder, the Windies captain.
Holder had 5/44 and 6/59 at Sabina Park as Bangladesh were shot out for 149 and 168 – like Perera, his second-innings effort was his innings best and the overall returns a career best in 34 Tests. As a result, he got to No.13 in the bowlers’ list.
Holder, who scored 33* in the Windies first innings, also moved up one place in the all-rounders’ rankings to No.5, but Shakib Al Hasan, his Bangladesh counterpart, continued to sit at No.1 there, consolidating his position with a good individual performance in an abject show for his team.
Shakib failed to pick up a wicket in the Windies first innings, but returned 6/33 in the second, while also hitting 32 and 54.
