Chance for James Anderson to regain ICC top spot

England’s pace spearhead James Anderson will be eager to work his way back to the top of the ICC Test Bowlers Rankings when his side takes on Ireland in their one-off Test at Lord’s starting on Wednesday.

Anderson, who was overtaken by South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada (ranked third) in November last year and subsequently by the present No. 1 Pat Cummins of Australia, is ranked second and has a chance to bridge the 16-point gap in the Lords Test.

He will then feature in a potential direct contest with Cummins in the five-match Ashes series starting August 1.

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India’s Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin also featured in the bowler’s top 10 holding the sixth and tenth spot respectively.

India skipper Virat Kohli continued to maintain his number one position in the batsmen’s rankings. New Zealand’s Kane Williamson grabbed the second spot while Cheteshwar Pujara came in third. In the all-rounder’s list, Jadeja was the best-ranked Indian.

The left-arm spinner sits behind West Indies Jason Holder and Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh at the third spot.

In the team rankings, India remains in the first place followed by New Zealand (2) and South Africa (3) with England (4) and Australia (5) rounding up the top five.