England batter retakes No.1 Test batting ranking, without even playing

Alongside Brook, England Test skipper Joe Root also jumped a place to take the second spot in the ICC men's Test rankings. Notably, England last played a Test match in June as part of the three-match series against New Zealand.

Travis Head, who occupied the first place in the rankings before the latest update, dropped to fourth after twin failures against Bangladesh, which saw his rating points slide from 853 to 819. Steve Smith, meanwhile, also jumped a place to third.

Latest ICC Men’s Test player rankings

Updated on August 19, 2026

Batting rankings

Rank

Player

Team

Rating

1

Harry Brook

England

852

2

Joe Root

England

840

3

Steve Smith

Australia

833

4

Travis Head

Australia

819

5

Temba Bavuma

South Africa

775

6

Kamindu Mendis

Sri Lanka

744

7

Shubman Gill

India

743

8

Rachin Ravindra

New Zealand

740

9

Yashasvi Jaiswal

India

733

10

Babar Azam

Pakistan

716

Bowling rankings

As far as the bowling rankings are concerned, Pat Cummins, who was fourth in the rankings, slipped a spot to fifth, with Jansen rising up to the fourth spot. Gus Atkinson jumped two spots to enter the top ten.

Rank

Player

Team

Rating

1

Jasprit Bumrah

India

870

2

Matt Henry

New Zealand

861

3

Mitchell Starc

Australia

826

4

Marco Jansen

South Africa

825

5

Pat Cummins

Australia

818

6

Scott Boland

Australia

812

7

Kagiso Rabada

South Africa

807

8

Noman Ali

Pakistan

800

9

Josh Hazlewood

Australia

795

10

Gus Atkinson

England

729

All-rounder rankings

Cummins also slipped three places in the all-rounder rankings, going from the fifth to the eight spot. Mitchell Starc also fell a spot to fourth, while Wiaan Mulder, Washington Sundar and Atkinson all rose a spot each. Ravindra Jadeja stayed atop with 446 points, with a difference of over 100 points between himself and the second-ranked Jansen. 

Rank

Player

Team

Rating

1

Ravindra Jadeja 

India

446

2

Marco Jansen

South Africa

344

3

Mehidy Hasan Miraz

Bangladesh

320

4

Mitchell Starc

Australia

270

5

Wiaan Mulder

South Africa

245

6

Washington Sundar

India

244

7

Gus Atkinson

England

243

8

Pat Cummins

Australia

235

9

Justin Greaves

West Indies

225

10

Joe Root

England

209

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