Ben Stokes, England’s full-time Test captain, dropped to 41st place in the ICC Men’s Test batting rankings following two lacklustre Test matches against Pakistan. Stokes, who was recuperating from a hamstring injury, fell from 30th to 34th place on the list of hitters after the first Test in Multan. He was out of the forties for the first time since December 2015 in the second Test. Stokes has been in 40th place twice in between, in February 2019 and October 2016.
The bowling rankings suffered as well. It was Stokes’ first time outside the top 50 since August 2, 2015. Stokes was on 49th place three times throughout this time frame. In the second Test, which Pakistan won to tie the series, Stokes bowled 10 overs over two innings without taking a wicket.
Given that the all-rounder rankings are tied to the batting and bowling rankings, they were bound to suffer. Stokes was last outside the top-10 on December 30, 2015. His ranking fell three spots from ninth, repeating a historical occurrence. For a while, Stokes was the best all-round player in the game’s longest format, and in recent years, he consistently appeared in the top five.
Overtaking Bumrah, Rabada now tops the leaderboard.
Meanwhile, ace South African quick Kagiso Rabada surpassed Jasprit Bumrah to clinch the top spot on the bowlers’ list. Following an impressive nine-wicket haul in the opening Test of the current Bangladesh-Proteas series, this follows next.
Also Read: ‘We weren’t able to match the challenges in the last two games’- Ben Stokes dissects series loss to Pakistan
It’s interesting to note that Stokes’ highest bowling ranking was 19th, which he achieved on July 31, 2017. During England’s tour to New Zealand this year, he would be hoping to move up the scoreboard after recently getting back into bowling.
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