After a tremendous 4-year reign at the top of ICC World Test bowlers’ rankings, Australia Captain Pat Cummins has been replaced by one of England’s greatest bowlers James Anderson. Earlier today, ICC updated the world Test rankings and it showed that Cummins has dropped to number 3 with a rating of 853.
The Aussie pacer had a terrible outing with the ball against India in the first 2 Tests of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2022/23. At Nagpur, Cummins picked up 2 wickets and in the following test at Delhi, he picked only a wicket in 2 innings.
Jimmy Anderson returns to the top of the ICC Test bowling rankings. The best bowler in the world is 40. pic.twitter.com/TPoRHjfyqm
— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) February 22, 2023
The 29-year-old is also facing plenty of criticism as Australia suffered back-to-back Day 3 losses under Pat Cummins’ captaincy itself. Former Aussie greats have criticized the team and his own individual performance too. Allan Border said that he has heavily under performed and he needs to have a clear intent as well.
Allan Border labels his concerns with Australia's loss to India#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/TjGf3Lggzw
— SENQ 693 (@SENQLD) February 21, 2023
And after all of it, his latest setback has come in the form of ICC Test bowlers rankings. England’s veteran James Anderson claimed the top spot after bagging combined 7-wickets in 2 innings against New Zealand in their first test. The right-arm seamer picked up 3 wickets in first Innings and 4 in the following innings.
As a result, the Three Lions registered a massive 267-run victory on day 4 and Jimmy Anderson reached the summit of ICC Test Bowler’s ranking for the 6th time in his career. Indian Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has jumped from 3rd to the 2nd spot and he is also the 2nd best All-rounder in Test cricket after Ravindra Jadeja.
