Mitchell Starc regained the top spot in the ICC men’s Test bowling rankings on 4 November, the ICC’s release confirmed. The Australia fast bowler displaced South Africa’s Marco Jansen after the teams’ series decider in Cape Town.
Cape Town wickets drive Starc’s return
The ICC’s 4 November release records Starc’s hauls of 6/72 and 3/65 in the final Test. Australia lost by 176 runs and the series by 2–1, but Starc’s wickets moved him past Jansen in the individual bowling list. The ranking change followed a match that ended in defeat for Starc’s team.
The ICC’s accompanying 4 November report says Jansen took three wickets in Cape Town, compared with Starc’s nine. It says the Australian gained one place and reached a new career-best ranking. Jansen had taken the bowling lead only the previous week after the Gqeberha Test.
South Africa’s Simon Harmer also gained from the Cape Town result. The ICC’s 4 November release credits him with his first ten-wicket Test match haul and a rise of nine places to seventh among Test bowlers. Harmer was Player of the Match in South Africa’s series-clinching win.
How the bowling lead changed hands
SportsRivo compared the ICC’s 28 October release with its 4 November update. The earlier release put Jansen at the top of both the Test bowling and all-rounder lists after the Gqeberha match. The new update returns the bowling lead to Starc while Jansen retains first place among Test all-rounders. The two positions therefore belong to different players again.
The Cape Town performance also extends a story SportsRivo covered during the match. Its opening-day report described Starc’s first-innings spell. The final ICC release adds his second-innings wickets and the subsequent rankings change, which the earlier match report could not yet include.
What the rankings update changes
- Starc replaces Jansen at the summit of the men’s Test bowling list after the Cape Town match, according to the ICC’s 4 November release.
- Jansen remains the leading Test all-rounder despite losing the bowling lead, the ICC’s 4 November ranking report says.
- Harmer rises to seventh among Test bowlers and fifth among all-rounders, according to the ICC’s 4 November release. That gives South Africa three players in the all-rounder top five.