ICC Rankings: Windies skipper Jason Holder claims second spot among bowlers after Southampton victory

In the latest ICC rankings, West Indies captain Jason Holder has claimed the second spot among bowlers after his career-best figures against England in the first Test at Southampton.

Holder picked up seven wickets, including a six-wicket haul for 42 in the first innings. His rating points of 862 are the highest for any West Indian bowler in the last 20 years. Earlier former Windies great Courtney Walsh had reached a tally of 866 in August 2000.

In the batsmen's list, Holder retained his 35th position and has also reached a career-best tally of 485 points at the top of the all-rounders’ list. Number-two Ben Stokes has also made huge gains to attain a career-best tally of 431 points, narrowing the lead from 66 to 54 points.

Stokes, who led the side in the absence of Joe Root, equalled his career-high ninth position among batsmen, after scores of 43 and 46 at the Ageas Bowl. He is only one place behind Root. 

Stokes has also risen three places in the bowlers’ list to 23rd position with six wickets in the match.

Other England players who have moved up the rankings include left-handed opener Rory Burns, who is in the top 30 for the first time, while middle-order batsman Zak Crawley is in the top 100 after.

For the visiting side, Shannon Gabriel has gained 46 points to reach 726 after taking nine wickets but has risen only one place to 18th owing to the wide gap between him and India's Ravindra Jadeja (722).

Jermaine Blackwood’s has advanced 14 slots to the 58th position among batsmen while Shane Dowrich is at a career-best 37th position.

As for Indian cricketers, they have not taken the field since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have retained their positions in the top-10 of batsmen and bowlers rankings.

Skipper Virat Kohli remains second in the batsmen standings behind Steve Smith while Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane remain seventh and ninth respectively. Jasprit Bumrah is the only Indian bowler in the top-10 at seventh spot.