QUICK TAKE | Why Is Mitchell Starc Back at No.1? Seven Things to Know About the ICC Rankings Shake-Up
1. How did Starc regain the top spot?
Starc took nine wickets in the third Test against South Africa at Newlands, moving up one place to overtake Marco Jansen. Jansen collected three wickets in the match. The contrasting returns reversed their positions at the head of the Test bowling rankings.
2. Had Starc been No.1 before?
He first reached the Test bowling summit in August, ending Jasprit Bumrah’s reign. Jansen subsequently overtook him after taking six wickets in the second Test at Gqeberha. Starc has now reclaimed the position.
3. Did his performance win Australia the match?
South Africa won by 176 runs. Simon Harmer took 6/16 as Australia were dismissed for 111 in their second innings. His match-winning performance lifted him nine places to seventh among Test bowlers, illustrating how individual rankings can reward players on either side of a result.
4. Did Jansen lose ground everywhere?
His batting helped strengthen his position atop the Test all-rounder rankings. A half-century in Cape Town contributed to a career-best rating in that category. Teammates Wiaan Mulder and Harmer also climbed, reaching third and fifth, respectively.
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5. What changed for India’s Shreyas Iyer?
Iyer rose two places to seventh among T20I batters after captaining India to a 3–2 series victory in New Zealand. His scores across the five matches were 42, seven, five, 22 and 50, adding up to 126 runs.
6. How are ranking points calculated?
The ICC rates players on a scale of zero to 1,000 through a moving-average system. Its algorithm evaluates performances in their match context and gives greater weight to recent results. A player’s rating is the points total, while the ranking is their position in the table.
7. Does this include Arshdeep’s Auckland four-for?
The ICC’s Wednesday updates include matches completed by the previous day. Performances on the day of publication enter a subsequent update. Arshdeep Singh’s four wickets in the opening ODI against New Zealand, therefore, belong to the next rankings cycle.