2015 ICC Test Player Rankings Thursday Dec 31,2015

Steven Smith and Ravichandran Ashwin have finished calendar year 2015 as the top-ranked batsman and bowler respectively in the ICC Test Player Rankings, which were released on Thursday Dec 31,2015 following the conclusion of the Boxing Day Tests in Durban and Melbourne

ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers

Ravichandran Ashwin has achieved the number-one spot for first time in his career
Ravichandran Ashwin, who started the year at No. 15, finishes the year as the most successful bowler with 62 wickets in nine Tests. In the process, he has now become the first Indian bowler since Bishen Bedi in 1973 to achieve the milestone of finishing the year in number-one Test position.In fact, Bedi was the only Indian bowler to ever top the Test bowling table, while Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble all peaked at number-two during their careers.

 

Ravichandran Ashwin, for the second time in three years, has also finished the year as the number-one ranked Test all-rounder

ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers

Rank	Player	Country	Points
1	Ravichandran Ashwin	India	871
2	Dale Steyn	South Africa	867
3	Stuart Broad	England	859
4	Yasir Shah	Pakistan	846
5	James Anderson	England	838
6	Ravindra Jadeja	India	789
7	Trent Boult	New Zealand	787
8	Josh Hazlewood	Australia	752
9	Vernon Philander	South Africa	739
10	Tim Southee	New Zealand	731

 ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen
In the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, Williamson, Root, de Villiers, Smith and David Warner all had a chance to finish the year as the number-one ranked Test batsman after they were separated by 26 points in the lead up to the final Tests of the year. While Williamson was busy in the ODI series against Sri Lanka, Root scored 24 and 73, de Villiers made 49 and 37 and Warner chipped in with 23 and 17.

Steve Smith, who last week won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Cricketer of the Year as well as the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award, had entered the Melbourne Test in fourth position. However, after scoring 134 and 70 against West Indies, the 26-year-old has leapfrogged Kane Williamson, Joe Root and AB de Villiers to the top spot.

 

Steve Smith, who was also named in the ICC Test and ODI Teams of the Year, is the third Australia batsman in the last decade after Ricky Ponting (2005 and 2006) and Michael Clarke (2012) to finish the year as the number-one ranked batsman. Other batsmen since 2005 to finish the year as the top batsman are Kumar Sangakkara (2007, 2010 and 2011), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (2008), Gautam Gambhir (2009) and de Villiers (2013 and 2014).

ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen

Rank	Player	Country	Points
1	Steven Smith	Australia	899
2	Kane Williamson	New Zealand	889
3	Joe Root	England	888
4	AB de Villiers	South Africa	877
5	David Warner	Australia	827
6	Younis Khan	Pakistan	826
7	Angelo Mathews	Sri Lanka	808
8	Hashim Amla	South Africa	774
9	Misbah-ul-Haq	Pakistan	764
	Alastair Cook	England	764