Australia star Travis Head is giving tough competition to New Zealand’s Kane Williamson the top spot after the in-form left-hander rose to a career-high second place on the latest ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings update on July 12, 2023.
Head has been having a wonderful time in 2023 in Test matches as first he humbled the Indian team in the World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final at the Oval and then has made the England bowlers sweat hard to get him out.
His performances in the ongoing Ashes 2023 series against England, which has already netted the 29-year-old a total of 266 runs at an average of 44.33, have seen him rise two places and up to second behind New Zealand veteran Kane Williamson.
In the recent Headingley Test match, in which Australia lost by 3 wickets, Head contributed scores of 39 and 77, which helped Australia compete with the England side.
His movement in the rankings has seen Pakistan captain Babar Azam jumping three places to third and fellow Australians Steve Smith (fourth) and Marnus Labuschagne (fifth) and England’s Joe Root (sixth) all dropping one spot in what is an enthralling race for top billing.
For England, young Harry Brook rose up to the 12th spot in the rankings, his career-best thus far after his 75 helped his tam win in Leeds by 3 wickets.
Stuart Broad And Mark Wood Make Merry After Brilliant Performances In Ashes 2023
England’s fast bowlers were in for some positive movement in the Test bowling rankings as well. veteran right-armer Stuart Broad improved four spots to sixth behind India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and returning pacer Mark Wood jumping nine places to 26th overall following his Player of the Match heroics against the Aussies.
Australia’s Mitchell Starc got seven wickets in Headingley Test and was duly rewarded with a three-spot jump on the bowler rankings to 11th overall.