The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

Windies bowlers Holder, Gabriel and Roach among top 10

Tue, Feb 5, '19

 

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ICC Media Release: Holder’s five wickets in the Antigua Test have lifted him four places to a career-best sixth position after the Windies scored an impressive 10-wicket win over England to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Holder, who last week became the first Windies player since ICC Cricket Hall of Famer Sir Gary Sobers to top the list of Test all-rounders, added another feather to his cap by reaching a tally of 778 rating points, the highest by any Windies bowler since the retirement of Courtney Walsh in 2001.

The Player of the Match in Antigua though was Kemar Roach, who grabbed four wickets in each innings. He was rewarded with a jump of eight slots to 12th position, just one place behind his compatriot Shannon Gabriel, who advanced one slot.

The presence of three Windies bowlers in the top 12 is reminiscent of the dominance of their pace bowlers in the past, and the best since they had four in the top 12 in mid-1996 – Curtley Ambrose (first), Courtney Walsh (fifth), Ian Bishop (seventh) and Kenny Benjamin (12th).

The Windies batsmen to advance include Kraigg Brathwaite (up one place to 33rd), Shane Dowrich (up two places to 45th), Shai Hope (up five places to 46th) and Darren Bravo (up two places to 55th) after his determined 50 in 342 minutes.

Meanwhile, there has been no change in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings, which are updated at the end of each series. Australia though have gained three points after winning the two Tests against Sri Lanka. They remain in fifth position with 104 points while Sri Lanka have lost two points but stay ahead of Pakistan with 89 points.