• 1st ODI: Headingley, Leeds – September 20
• 2nd ODI: Trent Bridge, Nottingham – September 23
• 3rd ODI: Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol – September 26

England’s Joe Root has climbed to the number one spot in the Test batting rankings, surpassing his Ashes rivals Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head. Root’s impressive performance in the first Test against Australia at Edgbaston, where he scored a combined 164 runs (118 not out and 46), propelled him five places higher in the International Cricket Council’s rankings.

Labuschagne dropped to third place after a modest performance, including a first-ball duck in the first innings, while Head slipped to fourth despite a half-century in the first innings. On the other hand, Usman Khawaja, the man of the match from Edgbaston, moved up two places to seventh in the rankings after scoring 141 and 65 runs.

Among the English players, Harry Brook made a notable jump of five spots to 13th position following his scores of 32 and 46. In the bowling rankings, James Anderson maintained his position as the second-best bowler globally, while Ollie Robinson entered the top five after taking five wickets in the first Test.

In a thrilling final day at Edgbaston, both England and Australia were fined 40 percent of their match fees and deducted two World Test Championship points for slow over-rates. Despite the enthralling finish to the match, both teams were penalized for not maintaining an acceptable over-rate. Captains Ben Stokes and Pat Cummins pleaded guilty to the offense, leading to the proposed sanctions being accepted without formal hearings.

As this was the first match in the new World Test Championship cycle, England now sits on minus two points in the table due to the penalty, while Australia’s win earned them 12 points, leaving them with a total of 10. Additionally, all 22 players involved in the match incurred a 40 percent reduction in their match fees, which amounts to approximately £6,000 for the English squad.

New Zealand scored a mountain of runs in the first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Wellington. The Kiwis declared their innings at 580 for 4 on the back of double centuries from Kane Williamson and Nikos in the first innings. Williamson’s sixth career double-century has overtaken India’s Virat Kohli and England’s Joe Root. Williamson got out with 215 runs off 296 balls against Sri Lanka. In 2019 too, the Kiwi captain had only two double-centuries. And then Kohli’s double centuries were seven.

While Kane Williamson has scored four double centuries in the last three and a half overs, Kohli does not have a single double century. Williamson has surpassed Kohli in the fastest 8000 runs and 28 centuries even though he is behind in the double century. Surpassed another member of the ‘Fab-Four’, Joe Root. Now only Steven Smith stands in front of the Kiwi captain. Before his century against Sri Lanka, Kane Williamson also scored a century against England in New Zealand’s last series. Williamson has scored two centuries in two series and Kohli has reached a century in Tests. Root has a hundred more than that. And Australia’s batsman Smith is on the top of the Fab-Four list with 30 centuries.

However, Williamson is ahead of Kohli and Root in one way. The Kiwi captain completed his 28th century in fewer innings than the two of them. It took him only 164 innings to score 28 centuries. Where Kohli took 183 innings and Root 224. But Smith is ahead of these four. He scored 28 centuries after playing only 153 innings. In another aspect, Williamson is behind Smith but he is ahead of Root and Kohli. This batsman has left behind Kohli and Root in terms of the fastest 8000 runs. But among these four, Smith is in the first place by playing the least number of innings. It took 151 innings for the former Auji captain to score 8,000 runs in Tests. Where Williamson took 164 innings. And Kohli and Root took 169 and 178 innings respectively.

What a great start New Zealand! England’s first three batsmen were in the pavilion within 21 runs. New Zealand had seven overs on the first day of the Wellington Test, then England took control. They have 315 runs for 3 wickets.

The morning tells you how the day will go – this adage is proven false by Joe Root and Harry Brooke. The third session was not completed due to rain. Before this, the power of two Yorkshire batsmen is going on. Their partnership was 294 runs. There were no runs with the bat in the last series against South Africa and Pakistan. Root ended the criticism by scoring a century on the last ball of the day. He scored his 28th Test century playing 182 balls, he was unbeaten on 101 runs. On the other hand, Brooke is getting the first double century. He entered the 800 milestone in the ninth innings of his career.

The 24-year-old right-handed batsman played dynamic innings. He is unbeaten on 184 off 169 balls with 24 fours and 5 sixes. Let’s see if he can take the third century of his career to the house of two hundred. Matt Henry returned Jack Crawley (2) and Ollie Pope (10) in his two consecutive overs. Ben Duquette (9) was the victim of Tim Southee in the seventh over. Brooke and Root made a great start.

They next visit Pakistan for a three-Test series in December followed by two Tests in New Zealand in February and Root told Sky Sports he hoped England would go from strength to strength with their attacking brand of cricket. “The challenge for us now is to keep going for it, keep trying to explore new areas in the format, and see how far we can take it,” he said.

“You feel like you can win games from anywhere when you’re playing like this. I think that’s the most exciting thing and makes us such a dangerous team to play against. “It would be really exciting to try and do it in different conditions and see where we go this winter, where we go abroad onto different surfaces in different parts of the world.”

Root was replaced by Stokes as Test captain but he still wants to help mentor the younger players in the side. “I’m excited just to get my teeth into trying to score as many runs as I can for Ben and the team and see where we can get to as a side,” he added.

“As an experienced player in the team I’ve still got a role in leading in a different capacity, helping with some of the younger batters and younger guys and hopefully that will benefit us as well.”

Bangladesh’s star batsman Liton has surpassed the world’s best batsmen in scoring runs in international cricket this year.

Liton Das has scored 1,302 runs in 30 innings so far in the three formats of Tests, ODIs, and T20is this year with the help of three centuries and nine fifties. England’s star batsman Jonny Bairstow is in the second position with 1,222 runs with the help of three centuries and six fifties in eight innings less than Liton.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam, batting in just 16 innings, is in the third position with 1,184 runs with the help of 7 centuries and 5 fifties. England’s former Test captain Joe Root is in the fourth position with 1,025 runs in 23 innings this year with the help of two centuries and five fifties.

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is in the fifth position after scoring 1,002 runs in 27 innings.

Root has been in form with the bat in recent times. He has already scored four centuries this year. Root recently became England’s second batter to complete 10,000 test runs.

Root scored 11, unbeaten 115, 176, and 3 respectively in the four innings of the first two Tests of the ongoing Test series against New Zealand. That is, this right-handed batter took the top spot in the rankings in recent performances.

But Labuschagne’s difference in rating points with root dropping to a second place is not much. Labuschagne has a rating of 892. Labuschagne had climbed to the top of the rankings with two innings of 103 and 51 in the two innings of the Test against England in Adelaide in December last year.

Australia’s Steven Smith is third with a rating of 845. Pakistan captain Babar Azam is fourth while New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is fifth.