Scorecard: | Bangladesh v England |
Player: | Mehedi Hasan |
Event: | England in Bangladesh 2016/17 |
Teenager Mehedi Hasan has rocketed into 33rd position in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers after bowling Bangladesh to its first-ever Test victory over England which earned the home side a 1-1 series draw in Mirpur on Sunday.
 
Mehedi, who won the player of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2016 award at the same venue eight months ago, returned match figures of 12 for 159, which has given him a lift of 28 positions. The off-spinner had entered the player rankings last week after taking seven for 138 on his debut in Chittagong. 
Mehedi is now Bangladeshs second highest-ranked Test bowler behind Shakib Al Hasan (15th). The 19-year-old looks strong to gain further points and can potentially break into the 20 as he is still in the qualification period. A bowler qualifies for a full rating after he has taken 100 wickets, while Mehedi has claimed 19 wickets in two Tests. 
The other bowlers to improve their rankings following the Mirpur Test are Englands trio of Chris Woakes, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali. 
Woakes, who took three for 30 in the first innings, has moved up two places to 18th, Stokes has achieved a career-high ranking of 21st after moving up two places following match figures of five for 65, while Ali has gained two places and is now in 25th spot after figures of five for 57 and one for 60. 
In what turned out to be a difficult Test for batsmen, England captain Alastair Cook has climbed one place to 11th following scores of 14 and 59, Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal has risen four places to 20th after scores of 104 and 40, Mominul Haque has lifted one place to 26th after contributing 66 and one, Shakib Al Hasan is now in 27th position after moving up one place following scores of 10 and 41, and Imrul Kayes has earned two spots and is now in 53rd position after chipping in with one and 78. 
Englands Joe Root has dropped out of the top three. He has slipped two places to fifth following scores of 56 and one. 
Bangladeshs 108 runs victory in Mirpur has also earned the youngest of the 10 Test playing countries eight ranking points. This means it is now on 65 points, just two points behind eighth-ranked West Indies. 
In contrast, fourth-ranked England has dropped to 105 points after conceding three points. 
Australia v South Africa 
Meanwhile, Australia and South Africa will go head to head in a mouth-watering three-Test series starting in Perth on Thursday. 
Australia is currently ranked third on 108 points, while South Africa is in fifth spot on 96 points. Any side making a sweep of the series will jump in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings. 
A 3-0 win will put Australia on 112 points and ahead of Pakistan in second place even if the Asian side defeats the West Indies by 3-0. In contrast, South Africa will join England on 105 points if it wins 3-0 but will be fraction of a point behind in fourth place, whereas Australia will drop to fifth on 102 points. 
A 2-1 series win for Australia will mean it will gain two points and South Africa will drop one point, but Australia will slip behind England by a fraction and South Africa will rise to 102 points when the series result is reversed. 
Australia captain Steve Smith will start the series as the number-one ranked batsman, leading South Africas third-ranked batsman Hashim Amla by 59 points. Adam Voges (seventh), David Warner (ninth), Faf de Plessis (25th), Dean Elgar (28th) and Quinton de Kock (30th) are the other batsmen inside the top 30 to feature in the series. 
Amongst the bowlers, second-ranked Dale Steyn trails Indias number-one ranked Ravichandran Ashwin by 22 points, while Mitchell Starc is Australias highest-ranked bowler in eighth position 69 points ahead of South Africas 10th-ranked Vernon Philander. 
Bowlers outside the top 10 and aiming to improve their rankings include Josh Hazlewood (11th), Morne Morkel (13th), Nathan Lyon (14th) and Peter Siddle (19th). 
In the all-rounders list, which is headed by Ashwin, Starc is the highest-ranked player from either side in sixth position 15 points ahead of Philander. 
MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings (After England-Bangladesh series and before the start of Australia-South Africa series) 
Rank Team Points 
(Developed by David Kendix) 
MRF ICC Test Player Rankings (After England-Bangladesh series and before the start of Australia-South Africa series) 
Batsmen (top 20) 
Bowlers (top 20) 
All-rounders (top five)
(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2016 International Cricket Council)