Mitchell Starc Claims No.1 Test Bowler Ranking From Bumrah

Mitchell Starc is the No.1 Test bowler in the world for the first time. The Australia left-armer climbed two places in the ICC Men's Test bowling rankings update published on Wednesday. He holds 872 rating points. Jasprit Bumrah, who led the table going into the update, drops to second on 862. The gap is ten points. Starc is 36.

Matt Henry falls to third. Pat Cummins moves up one place to fourth. That puts two Australia quicks in the top four.

Ten wickets in Mackay

The promotion came out of the second Test against Bangladesh. Starc took 6 for 12 in the first innings and 4 for 39 in the second. Australia won by an innings and 51 runs. The match lasted two days.

That result levelled the series at 1-1. Bangladesh had taken the opening Test in Darwin on the back of a five-wicket haul from Mehidy Hasan Miraz, and the reply at Mackay was severe. Twenty Bangladesh wickets fell for a combined total that never threatened Australia's first innings.

Behind the ten-point gap

The ICC system weights recent returns against the strength of the opposition. A ten-wicket haul against a lower-ranked side therefore moves a bowler less than the raw figures suggest. Starc had only two places to make up. He had been second before Mackay. That was a mark he first reached after last year's Boxing Day Test, according to Newsdrum's report of the update.

The current bowling order at the top reads:

• 1. Mitchell Starc, Australia, 872 points
• 2. Jasprit Bumrah, India, 862 points
• 3. Matt Henry, New Zealand
• 4. Pat Cummins, Australia
• 10. Nathan Lyon, Australia

Bumrah's 697 days at the top

Bumrah leaves the position having spent a combined 697 days there, the most by any India bowler. The Tribune, reporting the same update, placed that tally 14th on the all-time list and put his most recent stint at around two months.

England's climbers before Lord's

Two England bowlers made the sharpest gains in the list, and the timing matters. Ollie Robinson rose 15 places to 11th. Josh Tongue went up 16 to 17th. Both bowled England to an innings win over Pakistan inside three days at Headingley last week.

The second Test of that series starts at Lord's on Thursday. Nathan Lyon, meanwhile, gained two places to reach 10th.

Brook and Root hold the batting places

Harry Brook stays first among the batters and Joe Root second. The Tribune put Brook's lead at 24 rating points. Steve Smith and Travis Head follow.

Rishabh Pant climbed six places to equal seventh after a half-century against Sri Lanka in Colombo. It returns him to the top ten for the first time in about a year. India and Sri Lanka are playing out the second Test of that series this week.