Cape Town – Proteas opening batsman Aiden Markram has moved up in the latest ICC Test rankings following the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.
The Proteas were completely outplayed by Sri Lanka as the home side delivered a crushing 278-run defeat in Galle.
Markram was the only South African to move up in the batsmen rankings – moving one slot up to seventh place.
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Meanwhile, Sri Lanka opening batsman Dimuth Karunaratne achieved a career-high position in the rankings after carrying his bat in the first innings, scoring an unbeaten 158 and making 60 in the second innings.
Karunaratne leaped 21 places to knock Proteas batsman Hashim Amla out of the top 10.
Steve Smith of Australia, South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada and Shakib are the top-ranked batsman, bowler and all-rounder, respectively.
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As the Test team rankings are updated following the conclusion of a series, these will now be updated after the end of Sri Lanka versus South Africa series.
If South Africa win and level the series in Colombo, then they will finish on 110 points (down by two) and Sri Lanka will end on 93 points (up by two points).
In contrast, if Sri Lanka win the series 2-0, then they will join England on 97 points but will be ranked below Joe Root’s side by a fraction of a point, while South Africa will join Australia on 106 points but will be ranked ahead of Tim Paine’s side when the rankings are calculated beyond the decimal point.
Sri Lanka lead the two-match Test series 1-0 with the second Test starting on Friday in Galle (06:30 SA time).
ICC Test rankings:
Batsmen
1. Steve Smith (Aus) – 929
2. Virat Kohli (Ind) – 903
3. Joe Root (Eng) – 855
4. Kane Williamson (NZ) – 847
5. David Warner (Aus) – 820
6. Cheteshwar Pujara (Ind) – 799
7. Aiden Markram (SA) – 750
8. Dean Elgar (SA) – 746
9. Dinesh Chandimal (SL) – 740
10. Dimuth Karunaratne (SL) – 720
Bowlers
1. Kagiso Rabada (SA) – 899
2. James Anderson (Eng) – 892
3. Ravindra Jadeja (Ind) – 866
4. Vernon Philander (SA) – 834
5. Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind) – 811
6. Pat Cummins (Aus) – 800
7. Trent Boult (NZ) – 795
8. Neil Wagner (NZ) – 765
8. Rangana Herath (SL) – 765
10. Josh Hazlewood (Aus) – 759
All-rounders
1. Shakib Al Hasan (Ban) – 420
2. Ravindra Jadeja (Ind) – 394
3. Vernon Philander (SA) – 378
4. Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind) – 365
5. Jason Holder (WI) – 354