The Ashes form of Travis Head has rocketed him inside the top 10 ranked Test batters in the world.
The left-hander belted 152 in the first match at the Gabba, and followed it with 18 and a quick 51 at Adelaide Oval to help Australia to a big win over England.
In the updated ICC Test batting rankings released today, Head has edged into 10th spot.
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It’s a remarkable turnaround for the South Australian left-hander, who was axed from the team last summer and had to fight with Usman Khawaja to win the No.5 spot in the line-up this time around.
The selectors eventually decided to give Head another run ahead of Khawaja, and the pick paid dividends when he blasted the Poms into submission in Brisbane.
Head’s resurgence and climb up the ICC rankings also achieves a feat for Australia we’ve not seen in 14 years.
The Aussies now have four batters inside the men’s top 10 Test ranking list. The last time that happened was in December 2007, when Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Matthew Hayden, and Michael Clarke were dominating.
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Marnus Labuschagne has leapfrogged his teammate and idol Steve Smith – as well as New Zealand captain Kane Williamson – and now sits in second place behind Joe Root.
Labuschagne scored 74 in the first innings in Brisbane, and then scored 103 and 51 in Adelaide to fly up the rankings. His Test batting average is now an astonishing 62.14 from 20 matches.
Smith slid from No.2 down to No.3 and still sits one ahead of Williamson, while India’s Rohit Sharma sits fifth.
David Warner fills out the Australian list at No.6, having jump up three spots and leapfrogged Virat Kohli, Dimuth Karunaratne, and Babar Azam.
So the Aussies fill spots two, three, six, and 10 on the world list.
Australia also boasts the world’s best Test bowler in Pat Cummins, while teammate Josh Hazlewood sits in fourth.
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