The Ashes: Joe Root rises into world’s top five Test batsmen

JOE ROOT: Yorkshire star is now ranked the fourth best Test batsman in the world.

England’s vice-captain is fourth in the ICC ‘Player Rankings’ after producing a man-of-the-match performance in the first Ashes Test in Cardiff.

Root, who scored 134 and 60 in England’s 169-run victory, has jumped three places, leapfrogging Sri Lanka duo Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews, and Younus Khan of Pakistan.

Root has Hashim Amla firmly within his sights as he is just seven points behind the South Africa captain after his Cardiff performance has earned him 69 points to give him a career-high 884 points.

The Cardiff Test also saw Australia’s Steven Smith hand over the No 1 position to South Africa’s AB de Villiers.

Smith had entered the Test on 913 points but after scores of 33 and 33, he has dropped 12 points to fall to 901 points, seven behind de Villiers, who will miss the two-Test series against Bangladesh, which means a couple of strong performances will put the 26-year-old from Sydney back on top of the rankings.

Other notable batsmen to head in the right direction following the Cardiff Test include Chris Rogers in 21st (up two places), Gary Ballance in 31st (up two places), Ben Stokes in 37th (up seven places) and Moeen Ali in 65th (up 19 places).

England’s Stuart Broad has claimed fifth position in the bowlers’ rankings for the first time after rising one place following his five wickets in the match, including three in the second innings.

Broad trails Pakistan’s Yasir Shah by nine points.

Australia’s Mitchell Johnson has slipped two places to seventh but Mitchell Starc has claimed a career-high 17th position. Starc returned 5-114 and 2-60, which gave him a rise of three places.

Josh Hazlewood has followed Starc by also achieving a career-high ranking of 21st after taking 5-132. He trails Pakistan’s 20th-ranked Junaid Khan by three points.

Moeen Ali also has a career-best bowling ranking after his 2-71 and 3-59 lifted him nine places to 28th.

South Africa’s Dale Steyn is the top-ranked bowler, followed by England’s James Anderson and Trent Boult of New Zealand.