Former Australian captain Steve Smith exposed the vagaries of the ICC world Test batting rankings when he regained the top spot yesterday, despite being serving a 12-month suspension for ball-tampering.
Smith lost his 32-week reign as number one after the recent first Test at Edgbaston, where Virat Kohli scored 151 and 49 against England.
Those 200 runs took the Indian captain to 934 ranking points, to Smith’s 929, seeing him top the list for the first time.
But Kohli’s 23 and 17 in the second Test at Lord’s dropped him to 919 points, lifting Smith back up.
Smith won’t play another Test until March next year, at the earliest, and in that time the Australians will play two Tests against Pakistan in the UAE, four against India in Australia, and another two against Sri Lanka Down Under.
For each one of those eight Tests, Smith will lose only one per cent of his ranking points, so he’ll still be right up there by the time he again wears the baggy green.
One status he can never lose is his place in Test history as second only to Sir Donald Bradman.
Just 31 Test batsmen have reached the career milestone high of 900 ranking points, with Smith’s highest, 947, bettered only by The Don’s record 961.
That’s a magnificent achievement for a kid who started his Test career as a leg-spinning prospect who batted nine on debut.
Australians have eight among the list’s top 31, with England and the West Indies providing seven each, South Africa five, India two, with Sri Lanka and Pakistan sharing one each.
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Staggeringly, seven of the 13 Test batsmen who scored 10,000-plus runs have never cracked the 900 ranking points barrier:
Sachin Tendulkar – 898 points
Steve Waugh – 895
Rahul Dravid – 892
Mahela Jayawardene – 883
Younis Khan – 880
Allan Border – 877
Alastair Cook – 874
And today’s top ten with their current points:
1. Steve Smith – 929
2. Virat Kohli – 919
3. Joe Root – 851
4. Kane Williamson – 847
5. David Warner – 820
6. Cheteshwar Punjara – 759
7. Dimuth Karunaratne – 754
8. Dinesh Chandimal – 733
9. Jonny Bairstow – 729
10. Dean Elgar – 724
DKLN
Guest
"serving a 12-month suspension for ball-tampering" Tell the truth, David and stop misrepresenting these suspensions. Smith was not suspended for ball-tampering. He did not tamper with the ball. He was suspended for failing to stop the ball tampering, AND for subsequently lying about what happened to the on-field officials and trying to hide it.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Sorry to disappoint you but I haven’t ever been called Andy (other than the Starbucks barista ?)
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
@savage - Thanks for the explanation. @kopa - I absolutely couldn’t care what Kohli’s ranking is. He is an excellent batsman who I love watching. Nothing more nothing else. This comment was not about Kohli but because I thought the system was flawed. Savage has given a good explanation. I stand corrected. @SP - The way they are playing India are clearly not the best team, least of all in this series. But who is? All the Test teams are bad away from home unfortunately.
Brian George
Guest
Andy (chuckle) has been a shyte stirrer on Oz websites for many a year but since Yahoo.au closed its comments he's tried to reinvent himself as a serious commentator (lol)... Without much success... Just ignore him and you'll sleep better. Just sayin. ?
Savage
Roar Rookie
Anindya You've got it all wrong.If Smith retires now he will obviously lose points whenever Australia plays. Why would you expect Smith to lose points when Australia haven't played a Test after SA series?Infact no 1 ranked Smith will lose lot more points for missing test matches if we compare it to some mediocre ranked player missing some games.That's why it is difficult to maintain ranking if you are on the top,be it player or Team ranking. just to add,I think in some ways Players Rankings are more reliable than averages. For Example-Kohli "statistically" had a decent series in SA where he averages 47.8 which was lower than his career average of 53.Under normal circumstances,you would expect a highly ICC ranked player to lose some points but instead he gained around 30 points because it took into accounts that it was an extremely low-scoring series where all the 60 wickets fell for the first time ever in 3 Test series.Although the reasoning of Kohli gaining 30 points in that series is much more intricate than saying "it was simply because of low-scoring series" but you got the point. In this case,His average didn't do justice to his performance unlike ICC rankings. Although Player's ranking also has its flaws like not differentiating between Home and away performance but it goes same for team ranking as well.That's why we see the likes of Yousuf,Sangakkara,Hussey,Root and Hayden have higher ICC peak ratings as compared to Sachin,Waugh,Lara and dravid.
Targa
Guest
I see Williamson's highest ranking is 893. Hopefully he can get a couple of big 100s vs Pakistan in the UAE in October and get himself in the 900 club.
SP
Guest
So you feel the same about India being ranked number 1? When it is clear and obvious they are very, very far from the number 1 team. They have won just 2 tests in 25 out of the subcontinent.
Kopa Shamsu
Guest
Well,you should habe proposed this system way earlier. Why now when VK lost his position 1 again?
Kopa Shamsu
Guest
Well,none of this comes close to a team getting banned for spot fixing in domestic cricket but it's players are available for national selection.
Ben
Guest
But that still doesn't make him any less of a batsman. Say what you will about his sportsmanship/ cheating, but he is still head and shoulders above Kohli as the best test batsman.
Tycoch22
Guest
Versus India - brain fade. He's got form
Tycoch22
Guest
"Brain Fades" looking to dreessing room for help with DRS - serial cheater
Ben
Guest
How? How does endorsing a plan to rub sandpaper on a cricket ball affect his batting?
Tycoch22
Guest
Bit like saying Lance Armstrong best cyclist in the world
Paul
Roar Guru
All points based systems are open to question from time to time, if they're taken as the absolutely definitive measure of a player or a team. Pujara rating 6 is as questionable as Smith's ratings with many calling for him to be sacked and not play Test cricket again The same system in use by the ICC has India on top with 125 points, with England 5th on 99. The results in recent weeks would suggest India is nowhere near this good, especially playing away from home. Us the system as a guide but not as an infallible fact.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Steve Smith needs to retire now and remain not out to retain his points forever. What a lousy system. The ATP has a far better system where you are constantly defending the points that you gathered earlier. If you won the Toronto Masters in 2017 and decide not to play in 2018, then those 1000 points are at stake. It penalises injury for sure (and suspension because that’s the point isn’t it?) but rewards consistency in equal measure.