Former England skipper Joe Root has regained the top spot in the ICC Test Player Rankings for batters after his 27th Test hundred en route to his team’s win over New Zealand.
Root replaced Labuschagne, who rose to the top in December last year following knocks of 103 and 51 against England in Adelaide, but Root’s recent run of form has seen the Australian usurped at the head of proceedings.
Root has already scored four centuries this calendar year and become just the second Englishman to score more than 10,000 Test runs and that has seen the 31-year-old jump in front of Labuschagne as the No.1 ranked batter in the world.
Australia’s Steve Smith remains in third place in the latest Test rankings, with Pakistan captain Babar Azam and New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson making up the top five.
There was some reshuffling in the latest bowling rankings with towering Kiwi quick Kyle Jamieson dropping three places to sixth after he injured his back against England.
That allowed India speedster Jasprit Bumrah (third), Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi (fourth) and South Africa quick Kagiso Rabada (fifth) to all rise a spot, while a pair of Jamieson’s New Zealand team-mates swapped positions inside the top 10.
